


The Lost Boys

by RandomOneShot



Category: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors
Genre: A communist, A little boy survivor, A samurai, Alternate Universe, Eldritch abominations are running rampant in Shinjuku, He does not fall in love with anyone if that helps, I am trying SUPER HARD not to make him a Gary Stu, Immortal samurai troopers, Jun's taking it okay though, Magical Sentai Teams of mass destruction, Mia is not equipped to handle this shit, Reincarnation, Seriously Touma never turns the damn radio off, So what about that village full of mystics? We know there were more than two, The warlords sold themselves to a demon's service for power, There is an OC and he is a mystic, What if the samurai troopers armor made them long lived as well?, a victim of the great famine, all join together to save the world, and a high school student, fight monsters and, rack up Mia's electricity bill to untold heights
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 09:22:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 36,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7096570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomOneShot/pseuds/RandomOneShot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A samurai from the distant past. A communist from the roaring 20’s. A Little Boy survivor. A victim of the great famine. A high school student. Mia wasn’t sure what she was expecting when her grandfather told her the legend, but it definitely wasn’t this.  </p><p>(A retelling of the story of Ronin Warriors, with me elaborating on certain things left barely touched and twisting other things from their original canon until they resemble pretzels.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shadowland

Tokyo was hot, busy and alive.

 

One of the largest cities in the world, it was literally filled to bursting with people. Thousands upon thousands of human beings got up in the morning, went to work, went to school, ate lunch, read, watched a movie, listened to music, ate dinner and slept with each cycle of night and day. Train tracks riddled the metropolis like the veins of a living thing, carrying the city’s lifeblood – its people – to and fro. With so many people not having the money or the desire to purchase and maintain an automobile, it was the trains that served as the primary means of transportation.

 

They were good trains, as far as the things went; easily serviceable, dependable and comfortable for the people riding in them. One of the few complaints that had risen over the course of their time was that the brakes could be a pain for those with sensitive ears. Nothing had been done to fix this and so the problem persisted.

 

Screeee _eeeeeeEEEEEEEEE!_

 

Mariko watched as the man sitting across the aisle from her winced and covered his ears. If the expression on his face was anything to go by, the noise was causing him a great deal of pain.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

The young man opened his eyes from their agony induced squint and blinked at her.

 

“Hm? Yes, I’m fine. I’m simply not used to all this noise.”

 

Eying the man’s clothes, Mariko tried to frame her next question with care.

 

“You’re not from Tokyo then?”

 

The young man laughed half-heartedly, and reached for the backpack and _shakujo_ lying on the seat next to him.

 

It was the _shakujo_ that she had noticed first when she came into the train compartment. She had only seen one like it before and it was in a temple during her grandmother’s funeral. At first, she had thought the man a priest or a monk, but he looked so very young. However, his clothes fit with the idea of a poor monk. They were obviously worn and faded from time, and she could see a patch carefully sewn onto the left sleeve of his coat. His running shoes had dirty pieces of duct tape holding them together. It looked like he had picked his wardrobe up from a charity bin.

 

“No, I’m not. Just got into town yesterday morning. Walked almost all the way down here from Hakkanai and my feet are killing me,” the young man said easily.

 

“Hakkanai!?” Mariko asked disbelievingly. “That’s all the way in northern Hokkaido!”

 

“Yeah, I know. Next time, I’m taking a plane.”

 

He swung his bag onto his shoulders, picked up the _shakujo_ and pulled up the wide straw hat hanging from his neck onto his head. Mariko followed him as he walked toward the door leading out into the station.

 

The sunlight was a few degrees warmer than the air conditioned atmosphere of the train compartment. The young man stretched gratefully and soaked in the sun.

 

“Lovely day,” Mariko remarked idly.

 

“Yes indeed,” the man replied warmly.

 

But no sooner had they both spoken then the clouds began to roll in.

 

(The young man would later learn through extensive personal experience that the universe enjoyed being an absolute _bitch_ like that.)

 

They were thick, black things made hideous by their sudden appearance and the malice that hung within them. They seemed to emerge from _behind_ the fluffy white cumulus clouds, which was even more disturbing to those who noticed. They did not form from the air, they were simply _there;_ roiling out into the blue sky like an oil spill.

 

Within moments the sunlight had dimmed considerably, throwing the entire station platform into shadow.

 

Thunder rolled through the air and Mariko shivered, while the man stiffened like a hunting dog with a scent.

 

“Did you hear that?!”

 

“What?” Mariko asked.

 

The man looked at her and she realized that he had changed. He was no longer the easy going, relaxed traveler she had ridden with. There was tension around his eyes and his right hand gripped the _shakujo_ tightly.

 

“It… the laughter. Someone was _laughing_. Didn’t you hear it?” said the young man.

 

“No, just the thunder,” Mariko replied. Then, more carefully, she asked, “Are you sure you heard that?”

 

The young man frowned and glanced around. “Yes, I’m sure I heard…”

 

He trailed off, his head tilted to one side like a curious bird. If it were not for the fact that he was starting to scare her, she might have found it cute.

 

Then, abruptly, he snapped out of it. Shaking his head, the young man came back to himself.

 

“Ah well, nothing to be done about it right now,” he said lightly.

 

For a moment, Mariko relaxed. He seemed to be normal again, but for moment there, even with the other people of the station crowding around her, he had seemed so… unsettling.

 

Then….

 

“Miss?”

 

Mariko blinked.

 

The young man was smiling gently at her, but it was not really a smile. There was something horribly forced about it.

 

“I think you should cancel your plans for today and stay home.”

 

Mariko tensed. What on earth…?

 

“Why? A little bad weather never hurt anyone.”

 

“That’s entirely untrue, but just the same – “

 

And that was when Mariko decided that _no_ , she did not like this man and she never would.

 

“– look at those clouds. They aren’t normal. It would be safer to stay inside for their duration, I think.”

 

Mariko sniffed and hitched her purse high onto her shoulder.

 

“Thank you for the advice, but I can’t. I’ve got to get to a friend’s house. We’re helping her cousin get married, so I really can’t just run off on them.”

 

Then she abandoned dignity and quickly jogged away.

 

She did not see the young man staring after her until she turned a corner and disappeared from his sight.

 

(Many, many long weeks later, when the world was marginally saner, Mariko would look back on that day and wonder how her life would have turned out had she heeded that man’s advice.)

 

The young man clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and sighed.

 

“Ominous clouds, creepy laughter that no one else hears and the first pretty girl I talk to thinks I’m a crazy person. It’s going to be one _those_ days….” he said.

 

He was beginning to draw stares from the people around him, as he had not moved since the clouds emerged a minute earlier. Ignoring their looks, the young man lowered the brim of his wide straw hat until its shadow covered his face and then began walking away from the train. His _shakujo_ hung heavily in his right hand, the rings occasionally making soft chiming sounds when they clinked together.

 

_‘To the ten thousand gods who watch over this land, I send this prayer: give me the strength to save what I can, the grace to accept what I cannot and the good luck to not fuck up too badly. Amen.’_

The young man descended from the train platform and began moving into the city.

 

* * *

 

 

Episode 1

Shadowland

  

* * *

 

In a dark room of Sengoku University, there was a girl.

 

This girl was unbothered by the darkened room she sat in. The sun would probably come back out again soon and the computer screen gave off its own glow anyway. She knew what cast the strange shapes against the walls. The old armor suits and weapons were nearly friends to her after two years. She was not bothered by the fact that almost no one at all was in the building with her. She had enough company hanging behind her right shoulder.

 

What did bother her was the fact that her nearly computer illiterate grandfather insisted on backseat typing.

 

_‘Rekka… Suiko… Korin… Kongo… Tenku. There, done.’_

 

The computer hummed nearly loud enough to rattle the desk. Mia could hear it thinking and was surprised that she did not smell something burning.

 

“Blasted machine. Hurry up.”

 

“This would probably go faster if you didn’t insist on using this bizarre code, grandfather. Just let me decode all the files and it’ll cut the loading time in half, I swear,” Mia said.

 

“Not a chance,” Yagyu Satoshi responded. Then, “Ah!” as the screen flashed once more and a new line of garbled text appeared.

 

Mia’s thoughts derailed as her mind automatically began deciphering the code her grandfather had taught her.

 

_‘Those are the armors from that legend he studies so much, the one he told me when I was little. Wildfire, Heaven, Diamond or was it Hard Rock armor? The water armor was… Wait. …Wait, what is this? …What **is** this?!’ _

 

The screen of the battered Macintosh Plus was fritzing even worse than that time the idiot students in the electronics program had gotten bored and played with a new virus they had built. The words, as much as Mia could make out between the flashing screen and the code, were shifting around. It was as though they had come alive and were crawling around behind the screen’s glass.

 

 _‘And wh§ξα_ ס־־־ ־ם _ōadow covers the world, then sλ_ ءءءءم؛ױٻﻻ _warriors arise to bring salvation to this world.’_

 

“And when the great shadow covers the world, then shall five chosen warriors rise up to save this Earth,” Mia’s grandfather whispered behind her.

 

Mia had always known that the Mac was an unstable piece of junk that had been used too rough and hard by irresponsible college students to survive for much longer. Even so, she had never expected to be peering at half-comprehensible code, her face only inches from the small screen, when it finally gave up the ghost and exploded.

 

The screen twitched one last time and then flared a brilliant, dazzling purple light into her eyes. Yelping, Mia shoved herself backwards, the wheeled chair beneath her bottom sliding freely along the linoleum. The screen shattered outwards, broken glass scattering along the floor, and smoke and sparks filling the air with the smell of burning plastic. The innards of the computer popped loudly.

 

Coughing, Mia staggered up from her chair and ran towards the fire extinguisher that hung from the wall next to the bookcase for the archeology texts. As she ran back to the computer with the extinguisher in hang, Mia saw through the haze of smoke that her grandfather had not moved from his spot near the desk.

 

The phone began ringing as she sprayed the oxygen killer all over the hissing computer, thoroughly ruining all the papers on the desk in the process.

 

 _‘Of course,’_ Mia thought bitterly. What was chaos without some more trouble on top of it? It was probably the dean wanting to know what that loud popping sound had been. His office was right above her grandfather’s.

 

Eleven sweeps of the nozzle had the computer – and everything else – buried underneath thick white foam that stung Mia’s nostrils when she breathed. There did not seem to be any chance for the fire in the computer to catch hold of anything else at that point, so Mia dropped the heavy extinguisher to the ground.

 

It was at that point that she realized her grandfather was speaking and the ringing had stopped.  

 

“…yes, I feel it too. …yes, I understand. It would certainly be safer, but… Date-san, do you think we can get away by now? I thought we would have more warning, but all the signs….”

 

“Grandfather?” Mia called. “I need some help –”

 

He shushed her.

 

There was a blanket of chemical extinguishing agent covering half of his office, they would have the administration on their heads very soon, the thesis he had been working on for _seven months_ was ruined and he _shushed her_ while he talked on the phone?!

 

“Where are you now? Could you come and… no, what am I thinking? You’re needed. There must… No. _No_ , you cannot come; what if the others need you? We’ll just have to come to you. I don’t think we can get out of its area of influence fast enough. I’ll send Mia ahead and catch…. Don’t even think it. You can’t risk everything for one – “

 

“ _Grandfather!_ ” Mia called again.

 

He looked up at Mia and said into the phone, quickly and forcefully, “She’s coming. Meet her at Yukishiro’s Sweet Shop. I will catch up when I can.”

 

Then he hung up, though ‘slammed the phone into its cradle’ would be more accurate.

 

“Mia,” he said seriously. “Listen carefully. I need you to take the Samurai, go into the city and find a man named Date; him and a few others. They’ll be waiting for you by the ice cream parlor you like. Their names are Sanada Ryo, Hashiba Touma, Shu Rei Fan and Mouri Shin. Stay with them until I catch up. They’ll keep you safe.”

 

“What?” Mia asked. “What are you talking about? This place is a mess and you need to -”

 

He grabbed her arm and used it to march her out of the office, which was when Mia realized that this was really not about the computer at all.

 

Behind them, there was a rumbling that shook the building slightly and then a blinding, deafening clap of lightning that had Mia jump an inch off the floor. The window must have been unlatched because there was a crash behind them, glass breaking, and then wind was tugging at her loose hair and clothes. Papers flew out of the office behind them and raced ahead of her down the hallway.

 

Her grandfather’s hand never loosened its grip.

 

His feet never slowed down their pace.

 

“Mia,” Satoshi said. “You _must_ listen to what I’m about to say. Your life may depend upon it.”

 

Behind them, the phone began ringing shrilly, again and again. They did not stop and, after a while, the noise faded away into the roar of wind and thunder that seemed to cover the world.

 

Mia wondered when it had gotten so cold.

 

* * *

 

People were running everywhere. If they had a specific destination in mind, Kamui did not share it with them. Now that the glass had stopped raining down from the shattered building windows, it seemed that the center of the street was not the smartest place to be.

Where a safer place was, however, was a question Kamui had no answer to.

 

He had felt it as soon as he entered the prefecture: a malice that saturated the air and weighed most heavily upon the city itself. Something inside Tokyo, or very close to it, was _hating_ with all its heart. It was not the lingering bad feelings of an old murder or betrayal, like those Kamui sometimes encountered. This emotion was alive and aware. There had been times during the train ride into Tokyo that Kamui had thought to reach out and try to make contact with it. The thought had never lasted long. Whatever it was, it was easily capable of crushing him like an insect if he caught its attention. There had been a sense of _nearness_ , of danger fast approaching. The malice, the rage, was only a step behind a thin curtain and the entire hour Kamui had spent wandering the city had made him feel as though a knife was hanging above his head, ready to fall.

 

There had been a sense of _approaching_ to the wickedness, of _nearing_. It was the feeling that came with a tsunami, when all the animals fled and the tide shrank back into the ocean just before the killer wave swept everything into its horrifying embrace.

 

Except now the water had come back; now the knife had fallen.

 

There had been just the briefest warning. Time had seemed to slow for a moment, sound fading, and then there was an almost-voice in his ears.

 

_“Take cover.”_

 

And the alley had suddenly seemed so inviting.

 

Kamui had no idea what to do, no idea how to stop the mindless panic that had overtaken the city ( _stop it_ , ha! As if he could. The master would lecture him on humility and modesty and the evils of pride, and damn if Kamui did not wish the old man was with him), but there was the boy, looking so small and lost in his yellow sweater, and he could do something about that, at least.

 

Maybe.

 

The boy had fallen and he was being trampled. No one noticed a small child when they were running for their lives. The boy had been knocked every which way, maybe trying to get into the same alley as Kamui, but far more likely he was just lost. It did not really matter. The narrow area between two buildings was somehow empty of people and it was safer than the crushing mass of humanity.

 

Kamui did not think, did not try to plan. There was not any plan that would have worked. He darted in, the _shakujo_ acting as a thin barrier on his left side, and after five steps into the screaming river of humans Kamui reached down blindly, nearly losing his balance and joining the child on the road. Then his fingers touched thick cotton and he grabbed, pulled, heaved the boy up and then dragged both of them back to the alley.

 

Rather, he tried to.

 

Someone shoved where he was not braced and gravity was suddenly very insistent. Kamui crashed into someone – likely a female someone, judging from the curves – who managed to not only stand her ground, but also grabbed hold of Kamui and began pulling him to the side of the street. One quick glance at their direction told Kamui that his alley (strange to think of it as such, but there it was) was closer and he found his feet, keeping pace with the woman next to him and hauling the boy behind him.

 

As soon as they were clear, Kamui let go of both child and woman, and the small boy crawled away from him, coming to a stop at the base of a dumpster. He looked up at Kamui as though the man was a new, fascinating life form. And then he looked _through_ Kamui, tuning the other out so completely that the small boy may as well have been alone in the dark sanctuary.

 

 _‘Shock_ ,’ Kamui diagnosed tiredly. He could not blame the boy.

 

There were several ways to approach someone in a disaster situation, but Kamui could not remember any of the stories the priests had told him about the atom bombs or earthquakes or floods. _‘Just be kind,’_ they had all said. Even if he could have remembered more than that, he would not have cared. The world had lost its mind and manners only counted for the sane.

 

With the girl, a pretty brunette in pink, standing at the entrance of the alley and looking wildly for an opening in the crowd, Kamui found himself sitting down hard next to the boy, his backpack digging into his spine as he leaned against the dumpster. The kid jerked his head to look at Kamui, indicating he had not heard the young man’s approach. It was a testament to how utterly freaked out the poor kid was. Even through the loud pandemonium of a panicking Tokyo, the _shakujo_ ’s chiming cut through loud and clear.

 

(And there was probably some way to turn that into a deep, meaningful metaphor, but who cared? Kamui did not, that was for sure. The thing drew all kinds of weird looks with his clothes and he was starting to wonder why the old man had made him take it.)

 

“Hi,” Kamui said lazily.

 

The boy stared blankly at him for a few seconds and Kamui was just starting to wonder if maybe he had not been heard when the kid spoke back.

 

“Hi.”

 

 _‘Progress_ ,’ Kamui thought.

 

“What’s your name?” Kamui asked.

 

“Jun.”

 

The kid was starting to look better as he spoke.

 

“Jun, huh? Good name. I’m Kamui. Do you know where your parents are?”

 

As soon as he said the words, Kamui winced. He could probably guess where the kid’s parents were – swept away in the human river and crushed flat.

 

The boy – Jun – pointed at the flood of humans.

 

“Somewhere over there. We got pushed apart and I tried to go look for them. I’m not big enough to push all those people away.”

 

Kamui laughed, although it was tinged with hysteria. Was it just his imagination or was the feeling of evil that permeated the city getting even stronger?

 

“S’okay, Jun. I’m not big enough either. How about we both just – “

 

And no, it _was not_ his imagination. There was a buildup of energy, almost like lightning was about to strike. Then Kamui was grabbing Jun’s sweater and pulling him down to the ground along with himself, almost wrapping his body around the boy’s as all of his hair tried to stand straight up.

 

_\- reaching reaching hunger wanting seeking finding laughter laughter grabbing pulling –_

 

_\- a great and terrible fear that was distinctly human, but coming from uncountable millions -_

 

_‘Merciful Kannon, be with me now in my hour of need, oh Compassionate One, guard me from the evils that have come to this poor, damned place.’_

 

The world seemed to tilt on its axis and Kamui felt his stomach rise into his throat. There was a nearby shriek and then another body fell down by Kamui. It was the girl, now away from her vigil at the alley entrance, and Kamui reached over and grabbed her too. The screaming reached a fever pitch outside of the debatably safe haven they had found. Kamui felt the mindless terror and despair of millions of people threatening to overwhelm him, and he clutched the poor child and girl to his chest, using them as anchors. Kamui breathed in and it was like he could taste the evil power in the air.

 

_‘Can they feel it too? Is that why they’re all so –’_

 

Then the world went entirely upside down for a moment and Kamui _felt_ more than _saw_ the people outside the alley disappear.

 

 _\- laughter laughter laughter_ –

_‘Don’t let it find me, please don’t.’_

 

And that was when the old _shakujo_ in his hand _jerked_.

 

_Clangclangclangclang!_

 

The polished wood rapidly grew warm in his hand and Kamui had the strangest sensation that he was….

 

(Calm.)

 

That he was… forgetting….

 

(Strength.)

 

…That he was… forgetting… something… important….

 

The world went peculiarly bright and the next thing Kamui knew, Jun was shaking him.

 

“…ake up, mister! You gotta wake up, something bad happened! Wake up! Please, wake up!”

 

“Damn,” Kamui muttered.

 

The child’s face slid in and out of focus a few times before deciding to stay put. Kamui sat up slowly, his pounding head protesting every second of it. Jun leaned back onto his knees once he saw that Kamui was moving.

 

At once, it struck the young man that it was incredibly quiet. The screaming had stopped. Looking past Jun, Kamui saw that the people were all gone. Strangely, it did not surprise him as much as he thought it should have.

 

“They’re gone….” Kamui muttered.

 

“Why’d you grab me?” Jun demanded. “You pulled me down, and when I looked up it was all quiet and everybody was gone!”

 

Kamui ignored him and stood up. There was an absolute riot of negative energy above him, but it seemed to be calming down. Whatever had happened seemed to have run its course.

 

Jun darted out of the alley before Kamui could stop him. The young man wasted no time following the boy, more afraid of being alone in the desolate, creepy city than anything else. Jun had not gone far. After taking off his jacket and wrapping it around the _shakujo_ ’s head to muffle the clanging of the rings, Kamui followed the boy out into the street.

 

It was completely empty. Broken glass and debris littered the sidewalks. Kamui saw a pink shoe lying forlornly off to one side of the road. A few purses were scattered across the tarmac. A small, handheld radio without the power to even hiss static. That was all. Every person who had been congesting the streets not one minute earlier was gone without a trace.

 

“Where’d they all go?” Jun whispered.

 

Kamui blinked, wrenching his mind away from the horrible scene he found himself in. The answer to that question was one he thought he knew. The feeling of caged lightning above him had grown more stable over time. Looking up, Kamui saw the same wicked looking, greenish-black clouds that had appeared so suddenly an hour earlier.

 

But something had indeed changed.

 

Through the thick clouds, Kamui saw a vague outline. It had no recognizable form that he knew of, but it was there. There was a long shape there; a broad shape there. Some tapered off into points and others simply faded away. They all connected together into a hulking mass that remained just out of sight, much like the feeling of barely veiled malice he had encountered what seemed like a lifetime earlier.

 

“Up there,” Kamui whispered.

 

It was one thing to have nightmares for weeks on end. It was one thing to hear himself say he was going to Tokyo to fight whatever was coming. It was one thing to be part of the hundreds pushing their way through the streets in fear and desperation.

 

It was quite another to be standing alone in the empty wreck of one of the greatest cities on Earth and staring up at something he did not want to see, something he should not be _able_ to see, and to know that the only other people around to help were a little boy and a girl his age.

 

_‘I should have stayed in Hakkanai.’_

 

The realization was a cold rock in his mind.

 

Without him realizing it, Jun had moved closer to stand beside Kamui. The small boy’s hands dug into Kamui’s shirt and stayed there. Absentmindedly, Kamui hugged him closer.

 

“We need to move,” Kamui heard himself say. “It isn’t safe to stay here in the open.”

 

Jun said nothing, but nodded. He seemed to have recovered from his brief shock now that he was holding onto Kamui.

 

The teenager turned them back towards the alley. The girl in pink was lying on the dirt, unmoving. Upon reaching her, Kamui found her awake, but in shock. Her face was white and her breathing was erratic. Huffing, he raised her up into a sitting position and absentmindedly began brushing dirt off of her sweater.

 

“What’s wrong with her?” Jun asked.

 

“I think she’s just scared,” Kamui responded. Then, “Miss? Can you tell us your name?”

 

“…u…i…”

 

“What’d you say?” That was Jun, crouching in front of her.

 

“Na… Nasuti, my name is Yagyu Nasuti,” the girl said quickly, almost stuttering in her haste.

  

* * *

 

 

 _‘The world has gone irrevocably, absolutely insane,’_ Mia thought.

 

Everyone was gone. _Everyone_. Every single panicking person that had been running through the streets only a minute ago was _gone_. All the people who had been huddled in the doorways were _gone_. All the people screaming from the windows of the buildings were _gone_.

 

And it was dark, getting darker by the minute, even though she knew it was still early in the afternoon. The shadows were already fading into true night, which made _absolutely no sense_.

 

The electricity had stopped earlier. That was why she had taken that policeman’s bike, even though the crowds had forced her to abandon it later. It was not a blackout. Blackouts did not make cars stall.

 

Was it an EMP? Were they being attacked? Did the people get vaporized by some new super weapon? Was it –

 

“Stop that,” the young man dusting her off said firmly.

 

His voice was like a whip. Mia jerked out of her thoughts and turned to stare at him blankly. He was not quite frowning at her, but it came close.

 

“Look, you’re about one second away from freaking out. That’s fine. What just happened is absolutely screwed up and we are in trouble, but you can’t _actually_ freak out. Everyone is gone and it’s just the three of us for now. That means if you freak out, we have to deal with it. _He_ ,” the teenager pointed to the little boy, “just got separated from his parents. He cannot deal with that. _I_ do not _want_ to deal with that. Now, get up and let’s go. We need to leave.”

 

Vague, half formed thoughts about waiting for help and staying in one place when trouble occurs flitted through Mia’s mind, but the young man was inexorable. He had her up and moving before she fully realized it.

 

The quiet beyond the alley scared her. In all her life, she had never seen the streets of the Shinjuku ward – of any city - so utterly desolate. Things lay scattered across the streets and sidewalks, evidence of the people who had been there only minutes before. She never got the full picture, never stopped to stare at the ruin, but only because the man holding her hand would not allow her to. She was vaguely aware of Jun’s small hand knotting itself into a fist around her sweater as he trailed behind her.

 

“So… Yagyu-san, you said? I’m Kamui. The kid is Jun. Sorry we had to meet under such bad circumstances, but hey, nice to know you. My teachers always said the best friendships could be formed during the worst of times, so I’m sure we’ll be getting to know each other pretty good over the next few hours. Do you like instant ramen? I tell you, it’s the eighth wonder of the world….”

 

Mia followed mutely, her head turning as if on a hinge each time they crossed a street to view more of the desolation. Kamui’s words flowed over her like a stream and she heard none of them for the longest time.

 

“…we need to get out of Shinjuku, probably out of Tokyo in general, so I’m thinking we should head north to Toshima and then through Kita or Itabashi. We should be out of the area of influence then, so we can get a train or plane ride to Hakkanai and get some help. Do you have any other place you’d like to go? Friends or relatives out of the country? If so, you might want –“

 

“Wait,” Mia said, feeling like her head was stuffed with wool. She could not make sense of the other teen’s nonsensical ramblings, but the words ‘north’, ‘Toshima’ and ‘Hakkanai’ had jumped out at her.

 

“You… want to get out of Shinjuku?”

 

Kamui turned his head to give her an unflattering look. “Um… yes? In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t exactly Tokyo’s hotspot right now.”

 

Mia had noticed. She was beginning to notice other things, as well; things that she should have noticed earlier. Like the fact that Kamui was keeping them in the shadows as much as possible, ducking behind dead cars to cross the street and cutting between buildings whenever they could. Like the fact that, although he was talking nonstop since the moment they left the alley, his voice had never risen much above a whisper. Like the fact that he was so obviously forcing himself to be cheerful, even when the white knuckled grip on his _shakujo_ clearly said he wanted to scream.

 

And, somehow, that brought her back to herself.

 

Kamui began again. “So, as I was saying, we should – “

 

Mia could not let him finish.

 

“I can’t,” Mia cut in. “I left my grandfather at the university. I can’t go anywhere until I check on him.” Kamui blinked at her, that one simple action carrying a whole paragraph of subtext. “How far is that school from here?”

 

Mia frowned. “Um… about 23 kilometers.”

 

Kamui shook his head. “No. No _way_. Even if he is there, which we don’t know, going that distance, on foot, when the city is like this? No. Not going to work.”

 

Mia felt her frown slide into a scowl and yanked her hand loose from Kamui’s grip. “I didn’t ask for your permission. I’m glad you stayed instead of running off and leaving me, but I can go alone if I need to. I’m not leaving before –“

 

“And what if you get yanked away like all the other people? What if something goes after you because you’re alone?” Kamui whispered violently. “You think you can get far in the dark? Because if it’s like this at noon, imagine what it will be like when the sun goes down.”

 

“ _I’ll be fine_ ,” Mia spat. “I can get a bicycle so I’m not on foot and once I get moving, there won’t be a lot that could catch up. If I don’t get back before dark, I’ll just find a place to rest for the night. And _what_ exactly would go after me? _Everyone’s gone!”_

 

She felt something in her mind slip a bit as she actually processed what she had shouted. Everyone was gone. Vanished into thin air. Kamui’s face had gone white, though she expected it had more to do with her volume than her words. Behind her, she could feel Jun shaking.

 

“Not so loud,” Kamui said frantically, looking around them into the empty streets. “Don’t draw any attention to us.”

 

“Why?” Mia pressed. “What are you so afraid of? You think monsters are going to come out and get us?”

 

“Yes,” Kamui said, dead serious.

 

She felt her lips stretch back over her teeth, half smile and half sneer, ready to laugh at him –

 

\- and felt her brain come to a full stop when she realized she believed it too.

 

 _‘No,’_ she thought. ‘ _Just flat out_ no _. An EMP wiped out the electronics. A new weapon destroyed or transported the people in the streets. It missed us by chance. The clouds are a heavy storm coming in. There are no monsters.’_

The words did nothing for her sense of dread.

 

“Please don’t yell,” Jun whispered. “It’s scary.”

 

Kamui’s glance flickered down to the boy before going back to her. The cheerful façade was gone now and Mia saw how much strain was truly in the young man – not much more than a teenager himself, she saw - facing her.

 

“If you want to call me insane, fine,” Kamui said. “I really don’t care. _Something_ is blocking out the sun. _Something_ zapped away at least a quarter of a million people. Even if it was something science did, do you really want to be alone if it happens again?”

 

The answer was obviously no, but Mia could not say it. She had to find her grandfather. It was that simple.

 

Kamui evidently saw something of her thoughts in her face because he groaned and massaged his eyes.

 

“Look, maybe I need to explain this again. Shinjuku is _dead_ for the immediate future and that means no EMTs, no police, no firemen, no hospital; we have no help whatsoever if we get in trouble. Why go looking for it?”

 

“You don’t know that,” Mia refuted. She did not believe it; _could not_ believe it. “Even if… whatever this is hit the whole ward, the others would send help, probably already have sent help. We just need to wait and we can… why are you shaking your head?”

 

“How long would it take them to find us? How long would it take them to get to us? All the power is gone, apparently even to independent things like cars and radios. Let’s say whatever rescue vehicles – if any - that get sent into the area don’t immediately shut down, how quickly are they going to find three people in all of this?”

 

“We could….” Mia trailed off. Short of a signal fire, she really had no idea. The thought of a blaze was not very enticing either, because, as Kamui had said, if they got into trouble, no one was around to help. One blown spark could set the whole ward ablaze.

 

In short, if they wanted to get out, they would very likely have to do it themselves.

 

“All right,” Mia finally admitted. “I get what you’re trying to say. We’d probably be better off leaving ourselves.” Kamui nodded.

 

“However!”

 

And promptly groaned not a moment later. Mia ignored his dismay and continued talking.

 

“I still have to try to find my grandfather. I won’t just –”

 

 _“LOOK AT THAT!”_ Jun suddenly screamed.

 

* * *

 

Kamui’s head snapped down to see Jun pointing away from them. Following the finger, Kamui looked down the street and saw something out of a nightmare. Specifically, something out of his nightmares.

 

It was easily nine feet tall and built like a tank. The dark green armor was something out of a museum, a relic that he would have expected to see worn on a fifteenth century samurai. It carried a _kusari-gama_ – a scythe on a weighted chain – sized to fit it and if the way it held the weapon was any indication, the thing knew how to use it. Now that he could see it, Kamui could feel it too. Separating the monster’s aura from the background was difficult, rather like trying to see a very dark green on a canvas of black, but possible. What Kamui felt flowing off of it did not make him feel better.

 

The fact that it was also coming towards them helped his next decision.

 

“ _Run!”_

 

Kamui grabbed Jun by the shoulder and shoved Nasuti with the _shakujo_. They really did not need the encouragement. Kamui found them both keeping up with him just fine as they raced for the nearest open doorway, which happened to be a department store. Behind them, he could hear the heavy clanking of the monster coming after them.

 

The electronic sliding doors had stalled in the open position and the trio darted inside with no opposition. They found themselves in the clothing department once they got past the entry way. Kamui kept them moving, ducking behind racks and shelves whenever they presented themselves.

 

“Where are we going?” Jun whispered.

 

The darkness in the department store was nearly absolute. Kamui shushed him and reached out with his sixth sense for the pursuer. It was disturbingly close. Could it feel them too? Maybe the thing could feel them and maybe it could not, but that did not really matter after Nasuti bumped into a rack of half-price dresses and made it rattle. Kamui felt the monster charging towards them and soon after that he could hear it crashing through the displays after them.

 

Abandoning all pretense of stealth, they ran for the dim outline of a door and slammed into it. It turned out to be an emergency exit and they found themselves in another alley.

 

“ _Move!_ ” Kamui screamed, feeling the monster coming up behind them like a freight train. They ran down the alley, but only made it fifteen feet before the door behind them exploded out of its frame and slammed into the wall opposite it, a dented wreck of what it used to be.

 

What followed was one of those instantaneous realizations, where several things line up and connect at the same time.

 

Kamui knew that it was about to catch them.

 

Kamui knew that it was going to kill them, if they were lucky.

 

Kamui knew that he had a slightly better chance of survival than the girl and the child.

 

Kamui knew that if he left a girl and a child to die when he could have helped them, he would never forgive himself as long as he lived.

 

And finally, though he did not know it for sure, Kamui was pretty sure that even an evil spirit would feel a _shakujo_ to the face.

 

In the time span of one second, between the monster knocking the door out of its frame and coming within grabbing distance of them, Kamui let go of Jun, spun around and yanked his jacket off of the _shakujo_.

 

The monster charged and Kamui swung.

 

* * *

 

Mia burst out of the alley and did not look back. That Kamui was no longer running between herself and Jun had not yet registered. All that she knew was that something horrible was chasing her.

 

They had emerged onto a street she recognized. Irony of ironies, it was the very street she had been trying to get to only an hour earlier. Yukishiro’s Sweet Shop was closest and she ran toward it, yanking Jun along when he began to drift away from her. It was only when she crossed the street and reached the sidewalk in front of the ice cream parlor that she heard the yelling behind her.

 

Stopping in the doorway of the shop, she turned around and looked back into the alley they had run out of. Kamui was swinging his _shakujo_ at the armored monster. Between the monster’s dark armor and the lack of light, she could not see how much damage (if any) that he had inflicted, but the simple fact that Kamui was still moving amazed the part of her that remained free from terror.

 

 _‘We have to help_ ,’ Mia thought wildly. ‘ _He’ll get crushed if we don’t. But how?’_

 

“We can’t leave him,” said Jun, voicing her thoughts.

 

“I know,” agreed Mia. “But we can’t just –”

 

The door bell behind them jangled.

 

A half strangled gasp escaped Mia’s throat (how stupid she was to have not checked) and –

 

“What’s going on?”

 

\- the scream that was coming up behind it stopped short.

 

Suddenly feeling nothing but confusion, Mia turned around and saw a teenage boy, just a few years younger than her, standing in the doorway. He was brown-haired and blue-eyed, looked as innocent as a babe, and was wearing a full body suit of white and blue metal armor. Mia could not find it in herself to ask why.

 

Jun found words before she did. Pointing across the street, the boy simply said “You have to help us!”

 

A loud, unreal cracking sound drew Mia’s attention back to the other side of the street. The fight had spilled out of the alley and to the front of the stores. The monster had shattered the pavement with one blow, driving its arm in up to the elbow. Kamui had only just barely avoided the strike, it seemed. His face was white and his lips were pulled back in a wordless scream. The _shakujo_ clanged wildly in his grasp, but there was nothing of the earlier confidence in its ringing. Whatever confidence had possessed the young man in the alley that they had met in had left him now. The clangs seemed to be a call for help.

 

Whoever he was, the armored boy certainly seemed to be a decent person. He took one look at the situation, then pulled Mia and Jun into the dubious shelter of the ice cream parlor. “Stay here,” was all he said. Then he was running across the street towards Kamui.

 

* * *

 

All Kamui could think was, ‘ _Well, at least it hasn’t thought to use the kusari-gama yet.’_

 

For something so big, the monster was frighteningly, _blindingly_ fast and the only thing that had kept Kamui alive so far was the little twinge of intuition that warned him when and where the monster was about to strike. Even then it was a near thing and that last attack had showered him with bits of pavement and dust. Coughing, Kamui staggered back and turned to run again.

 

It grabbed his backpack and Kamui tried to slide out of the straps without a second thought. He could get it back later, if he lived. A problem occurred when he realized he would have to drop the _shakujo_ to escape and losing his only real weapon was _not_ something he could do without a second thought. Had he been given even another moment to react, Kamui would have tossed it into his other hand.

 

The monster was far quicker.

 

Even one strap was sufficient to drag Kamui back. The young man’s feet left the ground with the force of the tug and he staggered back into the creature. On his other side, the fearsome _kusari-gama_ rose up, the sickle end razor sharp, and Kamui felt sad that his life would have to end after only twenty years.

 

Which was thankfully when a blur of white and blue _slammed_ into the monster and knocked it clear though the store window with a loud clanging sound.

 

Kamui stared at the shattered window and numbly thought, ‘ _Well, I’m glad it let go of me when it did that.’_

 

“Are you okay?”

 

The boy was shaking him gently. Kamui blinked and realized that, no, the boy was not wearing a strange form of biking gear. His entire body below the neck was covered in blue and white metal. That explained the clanging sound when he had struck the monster.

 

“Yes, I’m fine. Who are you, exactly?”

 

The boy smiled. “I’m –”

 

The weight on the chain smashed into the side of the boy’s head and sent him flying. Such an attack had surely broken the boy’s neck and Kamui cursed, switching the _shakujo_ to his other hand and dropping his backpack to the ground. He raised the _shakujo_ just barely in time to block the next strike, but the force of it still sent him flying. He landed hard on the road and slid, the asphalt beneath him chewing away at his clothes and flesh.

 

Scrambling to his feet, he saw the monster calmly stepping back through the window and reeling in the chain for another strike.

 

“You are a fool to fight me,” the monster said. The _kusari-gama_ rose for another strike.

 

“And you will die a fool’s death.”

 

Any shock Kamui might have felt at hearing the thing speak was overcome by a wave of desperate rage at its words. That boy had helped him, a perfect stranger, against a monster, and in return for his kindness, he had been….

 

Later, when things had calmed down, Kamui would wonder how he had known to do what followed. His free hand slipped into his pocket and found one of the paper talismans the old man had given him as protection against evil spirits. His fingers drew it out, folded it once lengthwise to stiffen it, and – _destroy this evil abomination who seeks my destruction!_ \- then he threw it at the creature.

 

The little paper slip shot forward like a throwing dart and adhered to the monster’s chest plate as though it had been glued there. Even more amazing were the glowing arcs of energy, like little lightning bolts, that blasted out of it to strike at the monster. It screamed horribly and then fell to its knees, smoking. The paper slip, now charred almost to ash, fell away to the pavement.

 

Kamui fell to his knees as well, suddenly exhausted.

 

A quiet clanging sound next to him made him turn his head.

 

“That was amazing,” the very-much-not-dead boy said softly. “How did you do that?”

 

“Never mind that,” Kamui said breathlessly. “How the _fuck_ did that not kill you?!”

 

“The armor protected me,” said the boy simply.

 

“It didn’t hit your armor! It caught you clean in the face and the force behind it should have shattered every bone in your neck, not to mention your skull!”

 

“Well, yeah, but the armor still –”

 

There was a creaking, groaning sound of metal being strained, and both of them turned to look at the monster. It was getting back up onto its feet and it did not look happy.

 

“Hit it again!” shouted the boy.

 

“I _can’t,_ I’m drained dry,” Kamui responded. “You hit it again!”

 

“I am going to _slaughter you both!”_ screamed the monster, and then it charged.

 

* * *

 

The boy’s armored fist grabbed hold of Kamui’s shirt. He dragged the young man up and then shoved him out of the way before stepping up to meet the monster’s charge. It hit him hard enough to send him skidding back a dozen feet before he caught himself. Beneath the monster’s weight, the boy gritted his teeth. It was like holding back an avalanche.

 

“Hit me, will you?” the monster hissed and then, impossibly, pressed harder. The boy’s eyes widened as he felt himself beginning to fall back.

 

“Pathetic humans need to _learn their place!”_

 

And then he was toppling over, the monster’s _kusari-gama_ poised to pierce through his heart the moment he hit the ground, and he did not know if his armor would be enough to stop it.

 

So he fell and he made sure it would not come to that.

 

The judo throw was not an easy one when your opponent was almost twice your size and who knew how many times heavier, but having super strength certainly helped. As he fell back, his hands went from pushing the monster away to pushing it over his head. His legs left the ground entirely to come up and add their own strength to shifting the monster’s bulk. In a second, the boy had heaved the monster over him and was lying on the sidewalk with nothing more than an aching head from his previous injury and the fresher collision that had just occurred.

 

Scrambling to his feet, the boy jumped away from the monster to gain some distance between them. He was going to need a moment for what followed.

 

Slammed his hands together and focusing all the energy of the armor he wore through them, the boy yelled a war cry at the top of his lungs.

 

“ _Buso Suiko!!!”_

 

* * *

 

Mia saw the new boy bring his hands together and a bright glow seep out from between his fingers. Then she had to look away when the glow became too bright to bear. Beside her, she heard Jun cry out from pain and guessed that he had not looked away quick enough.

 

When she could bear to look again, the boy was encased head to toe in a new form of armor. Much thicker and heavier than the last, it vaguely resembled the monster’s armor in that it would not have looked out of place in a museum. His helmet rose to a fin-like crest on top and a trident was hanging from his back. It looked heavy, but even with all the extra armor weighing him down, he pulled it into his hand and brought it to bear like it was nothing.

 

“Okay! Try hurting me now, metal head!” the boy yelled.

 

The taunt, childish as it was, was still effective. The monster howled with outrage and charged again. Mia held her breath, remembering how easily it had knocked the boy back the last time, but her fears were unfounded. Almost faster than she could see, the boy brought the trident up and slammed blades through the monster’s left shoulder. The entire arm dropped to the ground, foul smoke issuing out from the metal. The monster reeled back, screaming.

 

The boy was not done. He drew the trident back to his side and aimed the bladed end at the monster. Focused light began to gather at the tip and this time Mia knew to look away before it happened. Grabbing Jun, she pushed him down beneath the counter and threw herself in after him, squeezing her eyes shut as tightly as she could.

 

It barely made a difference.

 

* * *

 

Kamui was hurting all over, hurting in places he had not known he had. While he was sure that the boy had meant well, the fact remained that his shove had nearly sent Kamui flying. The asphalt had eaten away at his skin again and Kamui thought that if he lifted up his shirt, he would not find any skin left on his body. He almost wished that the monster _had_ killed him. Death could not be so painful.

 

Using the _shakujo_ as a crutch got him back on his feet. Kamui raised his head to see the boy glow far brighter than anyone who was not a radiation victim had a right to and then he was cursing as he was temporarily blinded. His vision came back just in time to see the boy aim his trident and for a new light to begin shining. That, combined with the ominous feeling of power gathering, was enough to make him dive to the ground and cover his head with his arms. Kamui felt a little more of his skin being shredded off and quietly tried not to weep.

 

“ _Super Wave Smasher!!!”_

 

An excruciatingly loud explosion rocked the earth. Kamui’s eyes burned even as he closed them and buried his face in his arms. It was as though a star had descended. Worst of all was the massive output of power coming from the boy. Kamui could feel it singing in every atom of his body and, though it had none of the evil he found in the skies above, the sheer amount of it still made him want to run and hide somewhere.

 

Dimly, Kamui was aware of someone screaming and he felt the aura of the monster being washed away like so much dirt in the river of power that was flowing from the boy.

 

Then it gradually tapered off and faded. Only moments after it had begun, Kamui found the light fading and the noise dimming. With his ears ringing and his eyes watering, the young man pushed himself off the ground for what he swore would be the last time that day. Blinking the dust and tears out of his eyes helped his vision only a little, and the boy was a blue blob in his sight.

 

Far more impressive, once his vision began to clear, was the damage the attack had caused.

 

The department store that stood across the street from the sweetshop was almost entirely _gone_ , as were the shops that had stood behind it. The boy’s attack had smashed a massive hole clean through it and it had collapsed inward. Kamui gave it a few more minutes before it collapsed entirely, if even that much. Even ignoring the massive amounts of dust that had been kicked up, that was reason enough to leave.

 

 _‘We should get out of here,’_ he thought.

 

Coughing, Kamui began hobbling towards their savior.

 

Nor was he the only one. Nasuti and Jun, both stumbling a bit from what had to be shock, were moving towards the boy as well. They arrived in time to catch him before he collapsed, his harsh breathing sounding vaguely metallic through the visor of his helmet.

 

“Thanks,” said the boy.

 

Kamui and Nasuti gently lowered the boy to the ground. He dropped the trident and tugged off his helmet. His long brown hair was mussed and his face was flushed from exertion, but his eyes were bright and there was a wild sort of grin on his face.

 

“That was rather awesome,” Kamui finally said, breaking the silence. “Care to explain?”

 

“It was _Suiko_ , wasn’t it?” Nasuti said, earning a startled glance from the boy. “Earlier, you said ‘buso suiko’ to call this armor, right? The Armor of the Torrent?”

 

“Erm… yes, actually. But how do you know that?” asked the boy.

 

“Yagyu Satoshi, my grandfather, studied the legend surrounding your armor ever since he was my age,” Nasuti explained. “I’ve been helping him with his research lately. I never dreamed any of it was real, though.”

 

“Oh, you’re Yagyu-sensei’s granddaughter!” The name of Yagyu had produced a startling change in the boy. Suddenly he was standing on his feet and taking Nasuti’s hand.

 

“That explains it! He was such a help to us, to me in particular! Do you know, is he safe or did the _Youjakai_ get him?”

 

The question rocked Nasuti visibly. She had forgotten all about her grandfather in the chaos that had taken over the last few minutes, Kamui mused.

 

“I-I-I don’t know,” Nasuti stammered. “I was going back to find him when –”

 

Kamui felt the presence a moment before it attacked. Cursing himself for his tunnel vision when it appeared the danger had passed, he knocked Nasuti to the ground and stepped in front of Jun, the _shakujo_ raised feebly. Behind him, he heard the boy give a cry and saw him go for the trident out of the corner of his eye, but it was too late. The second monster, who must have been watching the whole fight and just waiting for them to let their guard down, had already leapt down from the roof of the nearby shop and was descending towards them with the point of its own spear coming first.

 

Kamui was too weak to block, too pained to dodge, and the boy behind him was too slow. At the very least, he was about to die –

 

\- when a golden blur slammed into the helmet of the monster and knocked it off course.

 

 _‘This is becoming a very common occurrence in my life_ ,’ Kamui realized.

 

The monster hit the ground and literally went to pieces. Whatever arcane force had held the armor together dissolved with the death of the spirit inhabiting it. This time Kamui could see the entirety of the foul smoke rising from the chinks in the armor and he knew it was the remains of the spirit dissipating in the air.

 

“Shin-kun, what the _hell_ did we say about taking your helmet off in a fight?!”

 

Something orange and metal slammed into the ground not three feet away from the group, making Jun squawk in surprise and stagger back. The orange thing turned out to be a tall, heavyset man in orange armor vaguely similar to the boy’s. Two unevenly sized horns were set on either side of his helmet and a _naginata_ was carried on his back. As he took a step toward them, his faceplate broke apart and slid up inside his helmet. His face was dark and ruddy, bringing a farmer to mind.

 

“Touma could have put an arrow into your skull just as easily as that thing’s!” The newcomer jerked a thumb towards the rapidly crumbling remains of the second monster.

 

The boy, apparently named Shin, flushed again, this time in embarrassment. “I’m very sorry, Shu-san. I thought the fight was over.”

 

Another loud clanging sound drew everyone’s attention to the rear. A man in dark blue armor, his helmet rising to a high peak, was putting a golden bow onto his back after having jumped off the roof of the ice cream parlor. He was almost as tall as Shu, though not as wide. His faceplate remained firmly in place when he addressed Shin.

 

“Shin-kun, the fight’s just starting. If you’re going to take any part of your armor off, I would be very careful about securing the area first. And please remember to give us some warning before you _ever_ fire off a sure-kill, unless you know for sure that we aren’t in the way. You almost hit Seiji.”

 

“I _what_?!” Shin looked horrified.

 

Another clanging sound and another metal-clad man dropping from the sky. ‘ _I could start a collection_ ,’ Kamui thought.

 

This one was taller than both the previous arrivals, and his helmet was open to reveal a face with pale skin and one violet eye, the other hidden behind a swath of golden hair.

 

“You almost hit me,” said Seiji. If he was annoyed by his near vaporization, he did not show it. “You would have, if Touma had not warned me in time. You are very lucky that he has such good senses.”

 

“I am so sorry,” Shin gushed. “Please forgive me! I’ll do better in the future.”

 

“You’d better,” Shu warned. “Ryo looked ready to kill something.”

 

Shin’s face went dead white and Kamui would have sworn he could hear the boy gulping.

 

Shu did not seem to notice this and was looking around, his face etched with an expression of annoyance. “Where is the high and mighty one, anyway? He was right behind us a second ago.”

 

Touma answered. “Oh, I felt someone watching us, so he’s off greeting our new neighbors.”

 

Shin blinked. “What?”

 

“ _Take cover!”_

 

At the shout, which had come from a shop or two ahead of the group, the navy one – Touma - immediately grabbed Kamui and dashed over to the nearest shop before putting him down. Cries of outrage indicated that the same had happened to Jun and Nasuti. Touma shoved Kamui into a corner and stood in front of him.

 

“Close your eyes and cover your ears,” Touma warned, and then the world shook.

 

Having a vague idea of what was going to happen this time, Kamui did as he was told. Just like the last time, light bright enough to burn his eyes through their lids filled every corner of his vision. Even through his hands, he could still hear the horrible roar of an attack that could rip apart a city block without effort.

 

And then there was the power.

 

Kamui had a feeling that he would be aware of that attack even had he stayed in Hakkanai. It was easily ten times what Shin’s strike had produced.

 

The ground shook ever harder when Kamui felt the attack strike a target and just as he thought the whole building would come down on his head, it stopped. The light faded and the noise ceased. Touma was dragging him up to his feet before he had his bearings and guiding him toward the doorway.

 

As he had thought, it was worse than Shin’s attack. Never mind a department store – whole _blocks_ had been erased and the damage seemed to go on for miles. Vaguely, Kamui recognized the area he was staring at to be the site where Shinjuku’s skyscrapers began. It did not have as many skyscrapers now.

 

Kamui decided then and there that if anyone ever had to explain this whole situation, it would never be him.

 

Clanging drew his attention to the cloud of dust that risen by the start of the damage. A fifth metal-clad form was walking out of the dust, sheathing two _katana_ on his back. When he in plain sight, Kamui saw a young man with intensely bright blue eyes and vibrant red armor. Unlike the other four, however, something about this one made the hair on Kamui’s neck stand on end.

 

“The Mitsui Building, Ryo?” Seiji asked, sounding exasperated. “Really? Please tell me you were not aiming for it.”

 

“All right, I was not aiming for it,” he said easily. Then his gaze shifted to Shin and any easiness in it vanished. “And _you_. We are going to have a long talk about situational awareness, you and I.”

 

“Yes, Ryo-san,” Shin said miserably.

 

“Ryo,” Touma spoke up. “They’re still there.”

 

Ryo looked faintly surprised. “Really? I thought I hit them for certain.”

 

“ _It would take more than your pathetic attack to drive us away!”_

 

The voice was harsh, hateful and arrogant; despite those qualities, however, Kamui thought he heard a note of doubt in the words.

 

He followed the voice and his eyes found four figures standing on the roof of one of the surviving skyscrapers. Though they were far away, what little of their outline he could see did not remind him of the armor worn by the monsters.

 

“Ah, the _Masho_!” Ryo yelled. “Hello Shuten! How’s life under a demon?!”

 

“Your arrogance will be repaid in agony a hundred times over, fool! We will crush you and win this world for our master! Though we would happily strike now, in his infinite mercy he has given you a chance to live and serve him! Join us now and live forever in glory, or defy Arago-sama and earn a terrible death!”

 

“A kind proposal from a demon!” Ryo countered. His words were mocking and Kamui thought he was trying very hard not to laugh. “Touma, would you like to give them our answer?!”

 

“Happily,” Touma said. One smooth motion had him with his bow in his hands and an arrow drawn back. It released with a beautiful hum and flew faster than Kamui could see. The one among the _Masho_ it sought, that Shuten as Ryo had named him, had no such trouble and knocked it cleanly out of the air.

 

“ _Masho_!” Ryo yelled. “You say your master offers glory! I say he offers slavery! We are the defenders of this world and we will not allow him to take it as his own! So if you are so eager to crush us and bring victory to his name, by all means come down and we can settle this now! If not, _THEN STOP WASTING OUR TIME AND SHOW US THE WAY TO YOUR MASTER, YOU DISHONOURABLE MAGGOTS!!!”_

 

The vehemence in Ryo’s voice was startling. Even more so were the emotions Kamui could feel behind them. Ryo truly, deeply hated those _Masho_ and their master.

 

The feeling was mutual, it seemed.

 

The one who had been speaking, Shuten, bristled visibly even to someone from Kamui’s far off position.

 

“Sanada, you fool! You will die first!” Shuten howled and then all four were enveloped in orbs of light that carried them high into the sky. As they rose up, the ominous clouds parted at long last and Kamui could finally see what had been hidden behind them.

 

It was the castle from his nightmares; an impossible thing of wicked edged spires and black walls. It looked nearly as big as Shinjuku itself and it overlooked the city like a starving wolf.

 

“Oh,” Jun whimpered from somewhere behind him.

 

The world lurched and Kamui nearly fell to the ground again. Only Shu’s quick reaction saved him from the pavement. Hanging from Shu’s arms like a ragdoll, Kamui felt the full force of the apparition’s message reverberate like a gong through his head.

 

SAMURAI TROOPERS, YOU ARE AS NOTHING BEFORE ME. I AM ARAGO AND THIS WORLD SHALL BE MINE. I WILL HUNT YOU LIKE THE DOGS YOU ARE AND HANG YOUR BODIES FROM MY GATES. BEG MY MERCY NOW OR BE MY DOOMED ENEMIES FOR THE REST OF YOUR SHORT LIVES.

 

And Sanada Ryo _laughed_.

 

“Arago, you say you will take this world,” said Ryo. Behind him, the other samurai (and was he really thinking of them as actual samurai? But the word fit them. It really did) stood firm.

 

“I say, _COME AND TRY!”_


	2. Glory For The Masho

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LAST TIME!
> 
> After arriving in Shinjuku, a young man named Kamui found himself in the middle of a terrifying situation. Following bizarre instructions from her grandfather, a young woman named Mia wound up alongside him. Together, they became responsible for a lost child named Jun.
> 
> Wandering through a city suddenly devoid of life, they were attacked by a monster and nearly killed before the arrival of a young man named Shin. Donning strange and powerful armor, Shin destroyed the monster and saved the three frightened people. As four other armored warriors appeared and led them to safety, Mia and Kamui wondered what was going on and what would happen next….

They were safer underground. There was little actual basis for this reasoning, particularly since the man named Touma had confirmed Kamui’s suspicions that the enemy could sense energies just as easily as they could, but it was a peace of mind thing. At the least, it did help to prevent any sort of physical observation. Anything else was up to luck for the moment.

 

When the festivities had died down and the demon Arago had declined to take up Ryo’s challenge, the five armored warriors had herded Kamui, Nasuti and Jun into the Shinjuku subway system and through the tunnels until reaching a station some blocks away from where they had been. It had only taken Kamui a moment to feel why they had stopped at that particular station. Though old, there were protections against evil spirits worked into the concrete walls and they were still standing strong. He was not sure how effective they would be if a monster decided to press them, but it was certainly better than nothing.

 

The tiger was also a reassuring line of defense.

 

Once it had stopped looking at Jun like the boy was dinner, anyway.

 

After all that had happened to him over the day, the shock of seeing a fully grown, white Siberian tiger laying on the floor of the station was less then it probably should have been. Kamui could not bring himself to care about that.

 

Ryo had called the tiger Byakuen and it had come up to him as tame as any housecat. None of the other armored warriors paid the tiger the slightest bit of mind, other than to pet him in greeting. Once he had sniffed and rubbed the five to his heart’s content, Byakuen had turned to Kamui, Nasuti and Jun. Lost in apathy as he was, Kamui only rubbed the tiger’s head when it sniffed at him. Nasuti did not fare so well. She was shaking nearly enough to fall over. Only Jun responded with any enthusiasm, happily scratching behind the giant cat’s ears and making Byakuen purr like the engine of a muscle car.

 

No, Byakuen held no great interest for him. The vending machines on the other side of the station did.

 

“Here you go,” Shu, the man in orange armor, said cheerfully before smashing the plastic front of a sandwich dispenser.

 

“Thank you,” Kamui replied, carefully reaching through the sharp pieces of plastic to the cellophane-wrapped food within.

 

It was not very long before the others got the idea as well. Shin, the boy who had saved Kamui, Nasuti and Jun earlier, put up a small protest at the thought of causing even more destruction, but Shu put his arguments to rest quickly enough.

 

“The power’s gone, Shin-kun. Either we eat it and it gets used up, or we leave it and it rots. Or melts,” he finished by pointing at Jun and Byakuen, who were enthusiastically attacking a pile of ice-cream bars.

 

“Well,” Shin began again, but then stopped as the man in green armor tossed him a packet of tuna salad and crackers.

 

“You like this kind, right? Eat up. Shu is right, it will all be spoiled before long.”

 

“Um, all right then.” Shin’s fingers deftly tore open the packet and he was dipping the tiny crackers into the tuna salad before another minute had passed.

 

“Oh, so you listen to Seiji, but not me,” Shu groused.

 

“Well… he’s Seiji-san,” Shin explained.

 

Touma burst out laughing and then nearly choked on his ramen. He was eating the noodles dry, but he did not seem to be enjoying them any less for it.

 

“Serves you right for laughing, Touma,” Shu said shamelessly.

 

In the background, Kamui took another bite of his sandwich and watched them quietly. The five warriors were a strange mix of ease and tension. Mouri Shin was nibbling at his food, for the entire world looking perfectly unconcerned. Shu Rei Fan was much the same, tearing huge chunks out of his hamburger as soon as he had it unwrapped. The man in dark blue armor, Hashiba Touma, was leaning back against a pillar and seemed to be aware of nothing but the ramen in his hands. The other two, the men in green and red, were very much on guard. The one in the green armor, Date Seiji, was pacing back and forth by the tracks. Kamui could feel odd flashes of power coming from him now and again, like a pulse. That same power had been turned on him not too long ago. The _Korin_ armor that Seiji bore gave him the ability to swiftly heal injuries. Kamui’s road rash and bruises had faded away in seconds under the green plated hands. Sanada Ryo, the man in red, had simply stopped at the base of the steps leading up to whatever plaza they were hiding beneath and had stayed there, motionless, ever since.

 

They were very strange group. A demon had appeared in the sky and threatened them with death, but they had spent the entire walk down to the subway station joking about it. Two of them, Ryo and Shu, even seemed eager for the fight. Introductions had consisted of a round of names being rattled off, instructions that first names and no honorifics were preferred, except for Shu (“Because his parents were either expecting a girl or someone far more graceful.” “I hate you, Seiji.”) and Shin (“We’ll drop the – _kun_ when he does something to impress us.”). They were more along the lines of a group of college frat boys out for a weekend vacation than a group of warriors in mystical armor that individually rated as a small-scale W.M.D. each.

 

“So, Nasu… er, Yagyu-san,” Shu said between bites. “How’d you avoid being zapped away like everyone else? We didn’t expect to see anyone after that big light show took all the people away.”

 

“Um… I’m not too sure about that myself, actually,” Nasuti confessed. “When that lightning started flashing, I tripped and fell. I probably would have just stayed there if Kamui-san hadn’t pulled me over with him and Jun-kun.”

 

Was that what had happened? Kamui thought back to the moment in the alley and only recalled a rising tide of fear and nausea. Then had come that feeling of calm and the clanging of the _shakujo_.

 

The realization hit him hard then.

 

The _shakujo_.

The priests had all agreed that it held tremendous power. It was one of the shrine’s most revered artifacts and only the fact that it had been delivered to their door alongside Kamui himself had allowed the head priest to get away with sending it along for the trip. When the horrific twisting of reality had begun, the _shakujo_ had reacted swiftly and powerfully. Yes, it had to be the _shakujo_. The paper charms Kamui carried on him were strong – he had seen that firsthand – but he did not think them capable of what had occurred in the alley.

 

“I think it was this,” Kamui admitted, nudging the _shakujo_ on the ground with a toe. It gave a merry little clink. “When things started getting weird, this _shakujo_ did too. I was holding onto it at the same time I was holding on to Jun and Yagyu-san. I think it’s what saved us.”

 

“That old thing? Did you dig it out of…?” Shu trailed off, his laughing eyes slowly focusing on the _shakujo_ as though it were glowing.

 

Kamui took a discrete glance down at the _shakujo_. It was not, in fact, glowing.

 

“Guys? Guys!” Shu yelled a moment before throwing himself forward and landing on his knees in front of the _shakujo_. Kamui restrained an insane urge to snatch it back as Shu carefully picked it up and cradled it in his hands like it was a bar of pure gold. Drawn by his shouts, the other four men (and even the tiger) had gathered round as well.

 

“Am I seeing this? Like, for real?” Shu asked breathlessly.

 

“No, it’s the same,” Touma responded. “I should have felt it earlier. Stupid, _stupid_.”

 

“It is not your fault,” Seiji reassured Touma. “When have we ever seen the _shakujo_ without Kaos?”

 

“Kaos?” Kamui asked.

 

“He’s a monk. Well, he’s not, he just dresses like – oh, actually, do we _know_ that he never took any vows? He never said one way or another,” Shu asked.

 

“Yes, he was. He took his vows when he was about Shin-kun’s age, I believe,” Seiji said.

 

“Oh, that explains – “

 

“ _Hey!_ ” Kamui barked. “Stop fondling the relic!”

 

He jerked the _shakujo_ away from Shu and wrapped his arms tightly around it. The other man had been running his hands up and down the length of it, fiddling with the rings at the top, and gazing at the _shakujo_ as though it were salvation incarnate from the nightmare they were in. Frankly, it creeped Kamui out and the urge to take it back had been too strong to ignore any longer. His actions caused the looks on the others’ faces to instantly change from reverent and happy to furious. Even the tiger growled.

 

“Kid, were do you get off telling me what to do?”

 

There were a lot of things Kamui could have said. The ones that featured most prominently contained words like, ‘this _shakujo_ is my responsibility until I get back to Hokkaido’, or something along those lines. The one that he wanted to say was that it simply felt wrong having it taken from him, even for a second. The _shakujo_ had saved his life not very much earlier. It was not moving more than three feet away from him, ever, if he could do anything about it.

 

But then the ground started shaking and the whole point became moot.

 

* * *

 

 

Episode 2

 

Glory for the _Masho_

 

* * *

 

“What the hell?!” Shu yelled.

 

“It’s our old friends,” Touma said calmly. “They’re about a half a kilometer that way and coming quick.” His arm came up to point a line straight from where they stood to the ceiling of the station and, presumably, even further beyond that.

 

“Oh, he’s ready to fight now?” Seiji said. The massive _no-dachi_ came off his shoulder and cut through the air with a whistle. Mia could not see his face well in the dim station, but his voice seemed to imply he was smiling. Seiji began walking to the stairs that led to the surface.

 

“You three, stay here. Don’t draw any attention to yourselves. Byakuen, guard them,” Ryo ordered.

 

“Um, Ryo-san, if we’re going to be fighting, shouldn’t we take them out of here first? I mean, the amount of power we throw around is kind of –“

 

“The amount of power is not the issue, Shin-kun,” Ryo’s voice cut through the boy’s protest like the blades he carried on his back. “If they stay out of sight, the enemy will not know to target them. If we pay attention and _look before we attack_ , then nothing we throw out will hit them. They will stay safe underground and we will be free to fight with our full attention.”

 

“Yes sir,” Shin muttered quietly.

 

“Wait, you’re just leaving us down here?” Mia asked, imagining every possible horrible outcome that decision could have.

 

“You’ll be fine,” Touma said as he walked passed her towards the stairs. “And honestly? The best protection we could give would either involve leaving our armors with you to form a Circle of Protection, in which case we would certainly get beaten to death within a minute, or leaving Shin-kun behind as your bodyguard, in which case some _youja_ would make a point to seek him out and find you as well. If it’s a _masho_ fight waiting for us out there, he’s really the only one we could spare.”

 

“I think they’re right,” Kamui said next to her. Surprised, Mia stared at the young man who had been almost murdered less than an hour before. She had thought he, of all people, would object to being left behind in the dark.

 

Kamui noticed her expression and tapped the wall behind him. “No, really. This wall here? I can feel magic in it. Somebody set up wards all throughout this station. As long as we don’t leave, we should be okay.”

 

“You can thank Kaos for that,” Touma yelled back as he disappeared up the stairs with the rest of the warriors. “He’s built so many sheltered zones over the years, I don’t think he remembers them all.”

 

“Who’s this Kaos guy?” Jun asked quietly. He had curled up against Byakuen and it seemed like he was disappearing into the tiger’s bulk.

 

“I ‘unno,” Kamui answered. “They said this was his _shakujo_ , so I guess he was a monk.”

 

“You mean, like someone who prays all day?”

 

“Given that the wards I feel could probably have turned that monster we saw earlier to a pile of smoking ash, I’m going to say he did more fighting than praying. What I want to know is, why’d he leave his _shakujo_ at my monastery with me? This thing’s amazing.”

 

“What do you mean?” Mia asked.

 

“Well, if you have a great deal of spiritual power you can use it – “  


“Spiritual power?” Jun interrupted.

 

“To influence…. Oh, um? It’s like… okay, you have your body and that’s what most people focus on. Running, lifting stuff, opening a door, even talking like I am now, that’s all stuff you do with your body, with physical energy. But, you also have your spirit, your mind. That has its own power. Most people don’t ever bother learning about, but if you train or if you just have a great deal of it, then you can learn to use it just like you use physical energy.

 

“You remember that little piece of paper I threw at the _youja_? That was a paper talisman that the head of my temple sent with me when I left for Shinjuku. He said he had put spells of protection against evil into all of them. When I took it out and threw it at the monster, it was like unchaining all that power and telling it to destroy him.

 

“Um… anyway, what I’m getting at is that this thing,” and Kamui raised the _shakujo_ up again, causing the rings to chime gently, “is unreal. When all the people were taken away, it was able to protect us. Something powerful enough to yank away an entire ward of people and this one _shakujo_ was able to fend it off without any trouble at all.”

 

“No offense, but are you sure it was the _shakujo_? I don’t remember much from that time, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t do anything odd,” Mia asked.

 

“No, Yagyu-san, I’m sure. I could feel it when it happened.”

 

“Mia.”

 

Kamui blinked at her.

 

“My name is Yagyu Nasuti Emilia. I go by Nasuti here in Japan because it sounds native, but I prefer Mia. If we’re going to be stuck together for now, I’d rather you just call me Mia, okay?”

 

“Fine, call me Kamui, but why –“

 

Kamui stopped then. The shaking had started again, even worse than before. Mia fell to the ground, Kamui onto the bench. Jun had buried his face into Byakuen’s fur and was clutching the tiger with a white-knuckled grip. The tiger growled and looked up at the staircase the others had used to leave only a minute before. Mia had the distinct feeling the tiger wanted to get out of the station. She could only hope Ryo’s order to guard them would take precedent over the tiger’s own desire.

 

(And also that it would not decide to eat them.)

 

There was no more talking. All three humans and even the tiger were preoccupied with trying not to be thrown around hard enough to be injured as the quakes grew worse and worse.

 

Only Kamui could feel the clash of powers above them, rising and falling rapidly as the fighting grew ever fiercer.

 

* * *

  

Shin kept silent as they returned to the surface. Most of the sentences he wanted to speak were things that he was all but certain would have Ryo telling him to be quiet. Silly things like, ‘are you sure I’m ready for this?’ and ‘what exactly are the odds of all of us living to see tomorrow?’ Things that no samurai should ever worry about.

 

(Shin was _not_ a samurai and neither were any of the other warriors. Ryo was the only one with that distinction, but he held them to his standard all the same. At times this was uplifting; at others, it was incredibly frustrating.)

 

The sky had not grown any brighter since they had first gone underground. The green clouds were thick in the sky, blocking out sunlight and hope. No wind stirred the dead air of the city streets. Looking at it as it was, Shin thought it could better be called a necropolis than a metropolis.

 

And, of course, there they were….

 

Their armor was dark mockery of his own. Heavy, thick plates of something that looked like metal, but was many times stronger. They each gave off the skin tingling feel of power that he had come to expect from mystical armor. However, unlike his own, it came with a vile undercurrent. Just being near them was making him uncomfortable. Though, that could simply have been due to who was wearing the armor, rather than the armor itself.  

 

Shin knew that they were all human like him. He did not know if that made it better or worse. They could die, certainly, but what if they had not meant to become as they were? Ryo said that they had all gone willingly, but how could he know for sure? But if he was right, then they had chosen to become the monsters they were.

 

Shuten Douji, the ogre, the Warlord of Cruelty.

 

Naaza, the serpent, Warlord of Venom.

 

Anubis, the wolf, Warlord of Corruption.

 

Rajura, the spider, Warlord of Illusion.

 

He had never seen them before. The other four Samurai Troopers had told him stories of their own encounters with the four _masho_ , along with every bit of information they had been able to dig up on them, but it was very little. What he did know painted a picture of four individuals born and raised in the _Sengoku jidai_ – the Warring States era - who had let those times define who they were; vicious, cunning, and powerful.

 

Shuten Douji, a man who had by all accounts wholeheartedly embraced his title of ‘ogre’, was the first to speak.

 

“You were speaking quite bravely after finishing off one of our foot soldiers, but we had to draw you out of the tunnels like rats for a fight against ourselves. Pathetic.”

 

“I did not hear you calling out a challenge. If you have grown so old and feeble that shouting tires you so, I would of course excuse your temper tantrum against this district as your only form of communication. If not, then I am afraid you remain nothing more than a petty _dick_ ,” Ryo said with all the humility to be found in a man who carried two razor sharp swords on his back and knew how to use them.

 

Shin could have easily sat back and watched Ryo trade insults with the warlord all day. His ancient upbringing and manners had mixed with modern day sarcasm and his own personal hot-blooded tendencies to create a tongue that could begin a sentence massaging someone’s ego into complacency and then stab it in the back with two or three words at the very end. It was less amusing when Ryo was angry at him, but simultaneously horrifying and amazing when directed at someone else.

 

“So, I see Shuten Douji, Naaza, Anubis, and Rajura here. Are we to expect any others or is this a private affair from here on out?” Seiji might as well have been enquiring about the weather.

 

“Mmm, some others,” said Anubis. “There are only four of us and while that’s enough to deal with you, there are a few loose ends to tie up.”

 

“Loose en – _oh you are **kidding** me!_ ” Shu exploded. Shin could see his hands tightening hard around his _naginata_. The wide stretch of armor that covered his shoulders shifted as he took a more aggressive stance. “It’s a child, a woman, and a damn monk! They couldn’t hurt a fly, much less anyone in your army.”

 

“The child, true, and the monk, maybe,” Naaza agreed. Then he reached for the sharp and – Shin knew – poisoned weapons hanging from his side. The tense atmosphere became something hanging from a thread. It would snap….

 

“But since Yagyu is not nearby to pay for his work against our Master, his granddaughter will have to take his place.”

 

Now.

 

Shin let the words slide through his mind without taking in the horrifying implications behind them. _‘Empty your mind of everything but your opponent,’_ Seiji had said.

 

(Anubis. “Did you think we were not watching you all?! How wonderfully naive!” He was laughing, gloating. They were going after Yagyu-sensei’s family, no, don’t think about it.)

 

The armored plates that shielded his face snapped down and locked with a thought. He really should have had them down already, but the orange tint over his vision drove him crazy. The next course of action was to _get the hell out of the way_ as Naaza dove toward him with the business end of a sword leading the way. Even with the armor giving him greater speed, Shin still just barely managed to avoid taking a hit from the steel. The venom flying from the blade still managed to spatter across his chest plate and small streams of red, foul smelling smoke began to waft passed Shin’s face.

 

(Where were the others? What if they could not help him?)

 

_‘Get away, get away, get away, get away!’_

 

The station entrance was behind him and rapidly approaching. Fighting Naaza alone where the others could not help him was far worse than fighting Naaza where he had a chance of aid. Without breaking stride, Shin jumped high and cleared the descending staircase to land on the pavement behind the entrance. The shouted war cry behind him, either enraged or ecstatic, said Naaza was coming the same way. Shin ran forward again and tried not to fall when the warlord’s impact rocked the sidewalk.

 

“Stop running, boy!”

 

There was a part of Shin that agreed with Naaza. He was one of the chosen champions of the mortal world, one of five destined and promised to stand against those of the _Youjakai_ , including the man behind him. He had spent the last several weeks training night and day to hone his skill with the trident to the point where he could effortlessly and without thought wield it like an extension of his body. Ryo, Seiji, Shu, and Touma had each taken the time to explain in great detail just how frightening and confusing a fight could get, and had done their best to ensure he would remain levelheaded during such a time. All of this said that he had the moral obligation to at least _try_ to do credit to his teachers and battle the evil pursuing him.

 

All of this was overridden by the screaming voice in his head.

 

_‘The Doku Masho is right behind you! RUN!’_

 

“Tch!”

 

And then Naaza was right in front of him, falling down from the sky and causing Shin to come to a literal screeching halt.

 

Naaza’s armor was billowing up thick clouds of red smoke. Where the steel touched pavement, the sidewalk began to bubble and hiss. From within the serpent shaped mask a brilliant pink light shone, focusing out of the eyes and twisting what few human features escaped the helmet into unrecognizable blurs. Each hand held a katana, both of them giving off the same red smoke that Shin knew Naaza’s venom caused when in contact with air. The smell was horrible, a sharp chemical burn on his nose. Sharp spikes and horns rose from the armor to add a solid foot to Naaza’s ordinarily unimpressive height. In the daylight, seeing the exquisitely drawn pictures he had been shown of each of the warlords, it had seemed almost cartoonishly evil. In the dying light of Shinjuku, with his comrades nowhere in sight and the previous fight fresh in his mind, it was terrifying. The entire effect was staggering, an inhuman horror that caused every thought in Shin’s mind to fly far away.

 

When the swords came down at him, it was only the clanging of his trident against their edges that brought him back to awareness. Whatever he may have been lacking in courage, Shin’s training had been successful. Even when he could not focus his own thoughts, his body had readied his weapon for defense. The metal pole pushed the edges away from his body, smoking where the blades touched it.

 

From the other side of the conflict, Naaza laughed. “Are you scared, boy? Good. My venom will melt the flesh from your bones and you will be in the most wonderful agony the whole time! Did your teachers tell you what happened the last time I cut one of them?”

 

He shifted his weight, leaned forward, and pressed down harder. Shin felt his arms starting to give. From elsewhere, someone, probably Shu, fired off a sure-kill attack. The street rocked and bucked, light and noise buffeting the boy in blue. Shin almost fell down, but managed to keep pushing against Naaza. If the _masho_ had even noticed the ruckus, he gave no sign. It might as well have not existed for him.

 

The barely visible mouth beneath the metal twisted into an awful smile. “Did they tell you about how much _Tenku_ screamed?”

 

_‘Don’t listen to anything he says. He’s trying to scare you.’_

 

Except he was not really _trying_ to scare him, was he?

 

_‘He’s killed more people than I’ve ever met, been in more fights than I’ve seen days; why am I fighting this **thing**?! I’m a fifteen year old student!’_

 

Realizing he had to do something before Naaza succeeded in pushing his trident down, Shin sharply twisted his weapon clockwise. The motion threw the swords off and he used the opportunity to jump back, trying to gain space. Naaza did not oblige. The warlord followed immediately, his lowered swords rising to swing up hard and Shin had to spin his trident again to swat them away. The flashing metal still rattled him, making him step back further, and Naaza pressed forward laughing. The swords came again in two different directions, one high and one low, aiming to make Shin into thirds. Shin could not think of blocking them both at once with his trident and released his two handed grip. The trident in his left hand diverted the first sword, while the extra plating on the back of his right hand let him shoved away the other. Immediately, he knew he had made a mistake. The metal of his right glove heated up and dripped red venom down to the sidewalk.

 

And then there were six swords.

 

_‘What?!’_

 

“ _Hah!”_ Naaza yelled and lunged, his six impossible arms all striking together.

 

 _‘No, not real! Seiji told me this!’_ The trident went back into a two-handed grip and Shin spun it hard and fast in a circle, unable to tell which blades were the true ones. _‘He likes to use his armor’s speed and his sword’s linking ability to make it look like he has multiple arms!’_

 

Up-left, block, Low-right, block. Center-high, block. Center-low, block.

 

_‘Just have to figure out which ones are real. Need to avoid them and find a way to fire off a sure-kill, because there is no way I am beating this guy in a straight up melee fight today.’_

 

Decision made, Shin went on the offensive for the first time since Naaza charged him. The next deflection was turned into a thrust, the wide open blades of the trident snapping shut around Naaza’s head while the center point pierced his helmet and skull. That was the theory, anyway. In practice, Naaza smacked the trident away with contemptuous ease and took another step closer. Shin backed away, jumping again as it seemed to be the only way he ever gained even the slightest bit of distance for even a second, and… fell down.

 

Belatedly, Shin remembered the subway entrance.

 

Yelling madly, Naaza lunged after him. The moment Shin’s body hit the steps below, Naaza and his swords would be on top of him.

 

He was going to die.

 

The fight had barely lasted more than a minute.

 

 _‘I’ve failed,’_ Shin thought numbly. _‘All that training and work to prepare, and what good has it done? Naaza doesn’t have a scratch on him and I’m about to die before the first day of this mess is over.’_

 

Naaza’s swords began to glow. Shin knew what that meant and felt what little hope he had left for survival wither away.

 

_“Snake - !”_

 

The arrow hit Naaza with enough force to completely alter his trajectory, sending him slamming into the side of the staircase. The sound of his body and armor bouncing off the wall and slamming into the concrete steps was not enough to block out the clatter of another landing nearby. Shin had stopped falling by then, landing hard on the steps as well. When his head stopped ringing, Shin opened his eyes and saw Touma standing at the edge of the stairwell, another arrow already knocked against the bow.

 

“Change of plans, Shin-kun,” Touma said calmly. “Get down below and keep the others safe. They can’t fight like we can.”

 

He raised his weapon and drew back the string. Blue light began gathering at the arrow’s point.

 

Raspy laughter came from Shin’s left. Naaza was sitting up, his two favored swords still clutched in his hands. The four secondary ones lay scattered at his feet. The arrow was sticking out of his side, a thin trickle of blood leaking from the puncture wound.

 

“You think this greenhorn brat is going to be able to keep them safe? I almost took his head with my first strike! He tried to block my snake-fang sword with his hand! What have you fools been teaching him?”

 

Touma always kept his faceplate down, so seeing his expression in the armor was difficult on the best of days. Shin had no trouble deciphering the tone Touma used, however.

 

“Shin-kun, go now. Naaza and I have some business to complete.” The voice could have been ice, and Shin had no knowing of how much of it was for Naaza and how much of it was for him. How much of the fight had Touma noticed? Shin had been appallingly sloppy, with no hits on the enemy to speak of.

 

 _‘Better to leave,’_ Shin realized.

 

“Yes sir,” Shin said and got to his feet, running for the subway station.

 

Naaza screamed, “You won’t escape, boy!”

 

The next arrow launched with Touma’s war cry and forced Naaza to jump back, abandoning his pursuit of Shin. Three more followed in a flash, Touma’s shooting speed pushed to the max. Yelling, Naaza leapt up higher to reach Touma’s position on the street level. Shin heard metal on metal, the sound of Touma cursing, and then they were gone, moving further into the street.

 

_‘Okay, should I keep them here? …No, the protection isn’t perfect. Push it enough and it breaks, and I have no idea how many might be coming… wait….’_

 

Something was wrong. He could not hear anything beyond his own breathing, the clanking of his armor and, from above, the battle between his comrades and the _masho_. The three people and one tiger that had been left down below should have been making some kind of noise. He certainly was. Why were they not asking him what was happening? The only reason they would not say anything to the one who had come through the entrance….

 

“Hello?” Shin called, trying not to hack and cough from the dust that filled the air. It was likely the result of the fighting rocking the ceiling.

 

Silence was his answer.

 

They had all disappeared.

 

* * *

 

 

“Do you hear something?” Jun asked.

 

Mia twitched at Jun’s words. They had been alone below the streets for less than half a minute, but the shaking and rumbling had continued nonstop since shortly after the Troopers had left. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but always enough to make her leery of standing up again. She had crawled up to the bench Kamui had stayed huddled on and taken shelter with him. Next to the wall, the sound changed a bit since she was able to hear the concrete behind her groan rather than just an echo of it in the large room.

 

“Do you mean the walls? It’s all right, they’ve… _probably_ withstood worse quakes than this one.”

 

“No,” Jun said. “It’s coming from that way.” He pointed at the rail line nearest to them.

 

Mia wondered if he was not simply hearing things. It was certainly possible, but considering what could actually be down there if he was right….

 

She turned to look at Kamui. She still was not sure what he meant when he said he could feel energy, but none of the Samurai Troopers had seemed to distrust or disbelieve anything he had said to them. “Do you… _feel_ anything coming?”

 

He was staring at the darkness of the subway line, frowning slightly. He shifted his gaze to her and shrugged. “I can’t really tell right now. What’s going on up above is like a fireworks display, and I’ve got a seat at ground zero. It’s difficult to make anything else out.”

 

A particularly violent explosion went off from the street just as he finished speaking. The whole station bucked hard and Mia and Kamui found themselves falling to the floor in a heap. Kamui sighed deeply and tried to heave himself into a sitting position. Mia’s hand latched onto his shoulder mid-motion and stopped him.

 

“Wait,” she said. Her ear was still pressed down against the floor where she had fallen. “Come down here. Listen.”

 

Kamui stared at her strangely, but Mia ignored him. She could hear something through the concrete. Her physics teacher came to mind from some years ago lecture.

 

“Sound travels in mechanical waves. A mechanical wave is a disturbance that moves and transports energy from one place to another through a medium. In sound, the disturbance is a vibrating object. And the medium can be any series of interconnected and interactive particles. This means that sound can travel through gases, liquids and solids.”  

 

Jun had been sitting on the floor, after all. Now that she had an ear to the ground, she could hear what he had been talking about. There was a constant rattling sound coming from the tunnel. It was growing louder with each moment and it seemed to mix with a heavy pounding that was oddly familiar.

 

Byakuen roared.

 

The sound was deafening. Jun screamed and Mia jumped off the floor, electrified by terror. Kamui cursed loudly and lunged for the _shakujo_. However, the tiger had not decided to attack them. He bounded up and ran to the edge of the station, roaring again to the darkness beyond. Mia followed the tiger’s gaze and, with a cold shiver of horror, realized what was happening.

 

There were eyes glowing in the dark. They were a ways off from reaching the station yet, but they were coming quickly. The rattling, rumbling noise was coming from them. Rather, it was coming from the _youja_ that the eyes belonged to.

 

“Well damn, they found us,” Kamui said. He sounded oddly calm. Mia and Jun were less composed. The boy had scrambled to his feet and was clutching the back of Kamui’s coat, a terrified look on his face. Mia herself was rising to her feet, trying to find the nearest way out. The stairs were the most obvious exit, but they were so far away. The other tunnel beckoned, but she had no way of knowing what else may have been waiting there for them.

 

“We can try the stairs or the tunnels. What do you think?” Mia asked quickly.

 

Kamui blinked. “Eh?”

 

Mia felt her frayed temper snap and she screamed at him. “They’re coming to kill us! We have to leave!”

 

Kamui sighed, as though her justifiable panic was silly. “Mia, they can’t get in here.”

 

…What?

 

“What?” Mia asked.

 

Kamui pointed at the station wall nearest to them. “Remember what I said earlier? There are spells built into this place. As far as I can tell, they cover the whole station. Evil spirits can’t get in, whether they come from the stairs, the tunnels, the walls, or even the ceiling and floor. Those _youja_ aren’t going to be able to reach us.”

 

Byakuen was still standing watch at the tracks, growling thunderously, but Mia noted that was all the tiger was doing. He seemed more angry than distressed.

 

“You’re _sure_ about that, Kamui-san?” Jun asked quietly. The _youja_ had nearly reach the end of their tunnel and the dim light of the station was beginning to show their dark green armor.

 

Kamui shrugged. “Reasonably. They’d have to break the wards to reach us and they feel pretty strong. Unless they have their own mystics with them, anything they do to try to break in likely won’t work.”

 

The sound of footsteps was deafening. Mia turned back to the tunnel and saw that the youja were nearly upon them. Was Kamui correct? His charm had hurt the first monster, but they had no way of fighting off these ones if he was wrong! Kamui himself seemed to realize that, if the tension on his face was anything to go by.

 

The first _youja_ reached the merger of tunnel and station. It flicked its sword up, leveled a bone-chilling stare at Mia and lunged in a line straight to her. Mia’s scream bubbled up and had reached all the way to her teeth when it happened.

 

The monster stepped over some invisible line between guarded and unguarded, and promptly _burst into flames_ when it crossed the boundary, as did the ones following it. The others took note and immediately stopped. They appeared to be considering the boundary that had destroyed their fellows. After a moment, the one in the lead bowed its helmeted head out of sight.

 

“See?” Kamui said easily. He had relaxed and sported a small grin on his face. “You have to undo these wards to get in. Unless they want to try throwing themselves at the station all day, we can -”

 

The leader’s head rose again, but this time its eyes were glowing red. No, Mia realized. _All of them_ had glowing red eyes now. The next wave of _youja_ began hurling themselves at the opening. The flashes of light and smell of burning metal drove Byakuen back from his position and onto the station platform.

 

“What are they doing?” Mia asked, but Kamui had moved and was ignoring her. He was heading towards the platform edge, a focused look on his face. After a moment of staring, he turned back to Mia and Jun. “Actually, we do need to leave. Pick a tunnel.”

 

“But you said they couldn’t get in!” Jun yelled.

 

“I also said, ‘unless they feel like throwing themselves at it.’ These things are suicide charging the barrier to weaken it. I can try powering it myself, but that’s only going to last as long as I have the energy for it.”

 

Mia felt her heart begin to race again. “How long until they get through?”

 

Kamui shrugged. “Eh, I’d say about a minute, but it could be sooner. Now, really, pick a tunnel. Preferably whichever one leads us away from the – “

 

The station shook again, dust raining down from the ceiling. Mia was amazed that there was any left to shake loose after so many quakes. Kamui coughed, swayed, and finished speaking.

 

“From that. I don’t want to leave the station just to get killed on the street.”

 

“We can’t just leave,” Mia protested. “The Samurai Troopers were the only reason we survived the first _youja_. If we run into another one without them, we’ll just die there instead of here.”

 

“But if we stay here, these ones are gonna get us sooner,” Jun said with the logic of an eight year old. “If we run away and lose them, they might not find us again. And with all the stuff going on up above, maybe no one will bother looking for us.”

 

“Kid’s got a point,” Kamui said. “But if that’s the case, why the hell are these guys even down here? I can’t think it’s a coincidence.”

 

Something exploded from the wall, showering them with bits of concrete and earth. Mia felt her body tingle from head to toe, like she had just grabbed a static filled doorknob. Byakuen roared again and the soldiers seemed to throw themselves against the barrier with even greater fervor.

 

“Actually, I don’t care,” Kamui said. His face had gone white and he sounded badly rattled. Mia did not blame him. She felt the same. “Mia, Jun, you two probably know better than me – where should we go?”

 

That was a decent question. Mia had not paid much attention to the signs as they had gone through the tunnels, but from the maps on the wall she knew they were in one of the stations along the east Shinjuku line. The tunnel that was partially blocked off from them ran to the east, according to the chart on the wall. The one behind them ran west. West, where Sengoku University and her grandfather were.

 

She only hesitated for a moment. The warriors would surely look for them when (if?) they won. They seemed to know her grandfather, or at least Shin had. The university would be a logical place to go.

 

“The other tunnel. Let’s go!”

 

Kamui stopped only for a moment to grab his bag. Jun and Mia kept ahead of him, Jun holding onto one of Mia’s hands with his right. Byakuen, thankfully, followed them without any obvious complaint. Apparently Ryo’s command of “guard” applied no matter where they went. That was fine with Mia. A tiger would be a deterrent even to _youja_ , surely.

 

Jumping down onto the tracks was strange, but the electricity had been cut off over an hour ago and there was no danger of shocking themselves on the third rail. The real trouble was seeing where they were going. The light in the station had been dim, only what few rays managed to come in through the stairs. In the tunnel, even that was gone. Only a few steps into the darkness and Mia could not see a thing.

 

“Stop,” she said. The thought of the monsters behind her was nerve racking, but it had to be done. “We need light. Do either of you have a flashlight? Oh, no that wouldn’t work. Matches?”

 

“None,” Kamui snapped. “We’ll have to just run and hope we don’t tri – _augh!_ What the?!”

 

“Kamui?!” Came two identical cries from the girl and child.

 

“I’m okay, but the tiger just near killed me. Apparently he wants to take the lead.”

 

Mia did not understand what Kamui meant. Then his hand reached hers in the dark and he gently pulled her forward. Her fingers pressed into thick, soft fur as the side of her hand brushed against the denim of Kamui’s jeans and she knew. Byakuen had somehow gotten Kamui onto his back.

 

“This is easily becoming the weirdest day of my life,” Kamui sighed by her face. Then he was letting go of her hand and wrapping both of his around her waist.

 

Mia squeaked. “What are you - ?!” and only got that far before Kamui plunked her down onto Byakuen’s back in front of him. Off balance, Mia let go of Jun and sank her fingers into Byakuen’s fur to steady herself. From the side, she heard Jun’s startled yelp and Kamui’s amused, “You too, shorty.”

 

Mia turned her head to see Kamui, though the dark made it futile. “What are you thinking?” But she had a feeling she already knew, as strange as it was.

 

“I’m thinking this is not an ordinary tiger _and_ that he can see in the dark better than we can _and_ that speed is our best bet right now. Byakuen seems to be okay acting as our horse for the time being, so – “

 

And there it was, the sound she had been dreading. A great cracking **_bang_** , another pulse of that static electricity feeling, and then sound of metal shod feet pounding the ground and growing closer.

 

“Oh hell, _move it cat!”_ Kamui yelled and then Byakuen bounded forward. Mia promptly bit her tongue with the sudden lurch, felt Kamui’s arms wrap around her waist to an almost crushing degree, heard Jun let out of surprised yell, and then they were racing off into the dark.

 

* * *

 

 

Only a minute later, a boy in pale blue armor stumbled down the stairs leading into the subway station and looked around in despair and confusion.

 

 _‘Where did they go?’_ Shin wondered frantically. His mind was locked in a loop, spinning from the lost trio to his own failure to defeat Naaza to how he was going to find the missing people and back again to the start. Only when the station shook again did he snap out of it.

 

They had left the station? Okay, fine. There had to be a reason why. They knew how dangerous it was outside, they would not have done it out of curiosity. Shin stood in place, taking in the station in the dim light. It did not take long to find the series of holes that had formed within the east side station wall. Going over to them allowed Shin to see that they appeared to have been blown _out_ of the wall. In the dust and dirt of the track nearby, he saw countless footprints from large feet, all of them coming to a stop at the station edge. With a sinking feeling, he realized what had probably happened.

 

_‘Youja came after them and they took off. Can’t blame ‘em, but which way did they go? Probably not down the other end of this tunnel, they’d be dodging arrows and spears the whole way. So, the other one?’_

 

They had. Crossing to the other end of the station rewarded him with scattered prints in the dust, one a massive paw print that could only be Byakuen’s and three far too small to be anyone but Jun’s. The rest were a trampled mess of _youja_ prints and every one of them lead into the tunnel after the others.

 

Shin stared into the darkness and wondered. He could defeat the monsters, surely. He had fought one only an hour earlier and defeated it easily enough. If he could get them all while they were still in the tunnel, one sure-kill would defeat the lot of them. The only problem he could see was Kamui, Nasuti, Jun and Byakuen getting in his way. It would be better to find them first, then worry about the _youja_ , but the way things were looking he would find the monsters first. There were plenty of them and what if they simply split into two groups, one to delay Shin and the other to catch up with the hunted? Would it be better to go back to the street and get help?  

 

 _‘No,’_ Shin rejected the thought as quickly as it came. _‘They’re fighting the four warlords right now, they don’t need something else to worry about. This is my job. I’ll follow them down the tunnel, beat anything in my way, and keep the others safe. It’ll be fine.’_

 

His trident snapped open, the two curved side blades ready to grab anything foolish enough to get within range. The faceplate pulled back, giving Shin a clear view of the tunnel, such as he could get. It was going to be dark enough without the tinted visor cutting his light off further.

 

 _‘I can beat some youja,’_ he thought firmly.

 

Shin stepped off the platform and began making his way through the dark tunnel.

 

* * *

 

 

Elsewhere, the group he sought were still traveling through the darkened tunnel. With no way of seeing where they were going, they could only trust Byakuen’s senses to ensure they did not run headlong into a wall. To the tiger’s credit, he had done well so far.

 

Kamui tried not to think about how much it would hurt if Byakuen messed up. Although Seiji had – somehow – used his armor to heal the group’s various scrapes and bruises (mostly Kamui’s), it was all too easy to remember what slamming into the ground had been like during the earlier tussle with the first _youja_. He did not think hitting a metal rail on the ground at thirty miles an hour or so would be much better.

 

Motion brought to mind traveling, which made Kamui wonder where exactly they were heading. ‘Away’ was rather vague and he was apt to get lost in the city very quickly without some route in mind to follow.

 

“Mia,” he said to the girl in front of him (and it was strange to be so informal, but she _had_ insisted and it was not as though they were at a public gathering), “do you have any idea where we should go when we get out of the tunnels?”

 

“Well,” Mia said shakily. Her knees and fingers were locked as tight as could be against Byakuen’s skin, but every step the tiger took still made her feel like she was about to fly off. “I was thinking we could head to the university. We’ve come a bit closer to it from where we were and grandfather could definitely help with all this.”

 

“You’re still on about that?” Kamui asked, feeling disappointed. “I mean, ‘where are we going to go from the station?’ I have no idea where anything is in this city.”

 

“Yes, I’m still on about that. He really can help, even if you think otherwise. And since the Samurai Troopers seem to know him, then they’ll be coming to see him sooner or later. Even if we don’t meet up with them in the city, we can probably catch up again at Sengoku University.”

 

“That’s a big if,” Kamui said back. “You’re assuming they’ll make a priority out of it. What happens if they decide we aren’t worth looking for and head off to the demon’s palace?”

 

“I don’t think so,” Mia answered distantly. Her mind was traveling back to the phone call her grandfather had taken before sending her off. “I think Seiji-san was going to come to us before grandfather sent me away. He sounded pretty insistent about it. They’ll come for sure.”

 

“Okay, then are you sure your grandfather is still there? It’s been more than a little while since this mess started. He might have taken off and that’s if he wasn’t taken away like the rest of the city.”

 

“Why do you keep asking stuff like that?” Jun snapped from the back. The little boy was glaring at Kamui’s back. “My parents are gone, but Mia might still find her grandfather. We’ve got to at least check before we just say he’s gone!”

 

“I…Oh, _fine_ , if you both insist,” Kamui said unhappily. “But if we die because of this, I reserve the right to complain to the both of you in the afterlife for a duration of my choosing.”

 

Light was beginning to reach them. The tunnel brightened from pitch black to dark gray. Ahead, Kamui could almost make out another platform. “We’ll get out here. Do you understand, Byakuen?” Mia asked.

 

The tiger said nothing, not even a growl, but upon exiting the tunnel immediately leapt up from the tracks to the platform, nearly dislodging all of his passengers in one go. Only the death grip Mia had on his fur kept her and the two boys who were daisy-chained to her waist from hitting the floor. Going up the stairs to the street was nearly as bad. When the tiger finally came to a full and complete stop, Kamui was the first one off, gracelessly collapsing to the asphalt with a sigh of relief.

 

Mia was slightly more dignified, standing on her shaking knees with only a little trouble. Only Jun seemed to be fine, treating the whole experience like it was a rare treat. He actually rubbed Byakuen’s ears in thanks.

 

“So, where to from here?” The little boy asked Mia, as a basketball sized head pressed harder into his searching fingers.

 

“We can reach the highway from here. If Byakuen can carry us that far, we could just follow it to the university. The off-ramp is, um, about twenty kilometers from here, I think? Then it’s another two kilometers from the highway to the campus,” Mia said haltingly.

 

“So the question is, how fast and how far can the average tiger run?” Kamui said from the ground, sounding absolutely exhausted. Just the thought of another ride was draining to him.

 

“Byakuen’s not an average tiger,” Jun laughed. “He carried all three of us through that tunnel, no sweat! I bet he could get us to the university before today is over!”

 

Mia smiled at him softly. “I hope you’re right. If not, we’ll have to walk – “

 

“ _Get down!!!”_ Kamui screamed and lunged for them. Byakuen slammed his bulk into Mia, knocking her beneath him. Kamui landed on top of Jun and wrapped his arms around the boy tightly. Not a moment later the ground beneath them heaved violently, the asphalt splitting in places like dead skin. Powerful blue light cut through the cracks. Kamui knew that light, just like he knew the power that caused it. He had felt it before, after all.

 

 _‘If he does not say that he **knew for a fact** we were not down there anymore, I might actually kill Shin-san,’_ Kamui vowed silently.

 

He did not have to wait long to find out. _Clank-clank-clank_ came the sound of metal feet marching up the steps and a boy in blue armor appeared from the station below. He had a worried look on his face, but it was swiftly replaced by confusion when he noticed all of the people lying on the ground.

 

“Why are you all down there?” Shin asked.

 

Kamui snarled. “Because _someone_ down below thought it would be a good idea to throw a death beam in the tunnels we were standing on top of!”

 

Shin blinked and looked guilty. “Oh. I… I hadn’t thought of that…,” he admitted. “I knew you had gotten up to the street, so I thought you’d be okay if I let loose there.”

 

“What about the monsters?” Jun asked as he stood, helped up by Kamui’s hand.

 

“Gone now,” Shin shrugged. “They were all crowded around the platform. I think they weren’t sure if you had kept going into the tunnel or gone up top, and they were taking a moment to decide where to go next. That was all I needed to blast them though. And I’m _really_ sorry about that, I didn’t think about it affecting the street. I should have.”

 

“Don’t do it again,” Kamui said bluntly. “I don’t care how many monsters you’re facing. If you aren’t positive there’s no one a kilometer ahead of you _do not use that attack_!”

 

“Um, yes. I won’t, I promise,” Shin agreed quickly. “We shouldn’t stay here. I don’t think everyone’ll go crazy with their power because we’re trying to protect the city, not level it, but even one hitting us would be enough. The fight isn’t that far off and if you thought my attack was bad, you should see the others.”

 

“We have,” Mia said quietly. Kamui was of a mind with her. Ryo’s attack had been beyond belief, easily ten times or more what Shin had done. He doubted they had gone far enough to avoid being hit with one if Ryo cut loose in their direction.

 

Actually…. “Shouldn’t you be with them?” Kamui asked.

 

That had struck a nerve, he thought, as Shin suddenly looked away from them. A faint red flush was spreading over his face.

 

“I’ve… been reassigned, actually,” Shin said quietly. “Touma-san insisted I look after you three. One of the warlords mentioned that they were making a point to go after Yagyu-san, so I came back looking for you.”

 

“Me?!” Mia asked, shocked. Kamui could not blame her. “Why in the world are they after me?”

 

“It’s nothing you’ve done,” Shin said quietly. Guiltily. “It’s your grandfather. He’s helped us a lot and I guess we weren’t as careful about contacting him as we thought we were. They said that since he wasn’t here, they were going to take it out on you.”

 

 _‘Well, that’s not ominous at all,_ ’ Kamui thought. Mia’s face had turned pale at Shin’s words and Kamui could not blame her. He had tried to run away and hide when the first hint of danger had reached him. Had run for weeks before finally giving in and coming to Tokyo to fight it. He had been afraid enough knowing that he was simply going to be there, a third wheel participant. To know that one of the demons, and a very powerful one as well, had made a direct threat to your life and intended to follow through? It was terrifying to think about.

 

_‘And hell, at least I have the talismans, the shakujo and a bit of training. Mia? She’s got nothing.’_

 

“Anyway, that’s another reason why we need to keep moving,” Shin said. “If they know about Yagyu-sensei, then we need to warn him they’ll be coming for him.”

 

“We were going to the university,” Mia said softly. “He might still be there, but if they know anything about him that’ll be the first place they look.”

 

Shin nodded. “Okay, we’ll just get there first then. Byakuen can – “

 

“ _I FOUND YOU!!!”_

 

Kamui wrenched his head upward so fast something in his neck hurt. A shapeless green blur was hurtling through the sky towards Shin’s back, two gleaming swords in hand. The _shakujo_ was aimed before Kamui had a conscious thought of doing so and his will poured through it like water.

 

**_\- protect him!!! -_ **

 

The orb of light that suddenly formed around Shin only looked as strong as a bubble, but when the swords collided with it there was a blast of force and light that sent the figure hurtling back. The green thing stood up laughing and Kamui realized it was no _youja_. The feeling of the armor was toxic, disgusting and evil, but beneath that, and through the gaps in the helmet, he could have sworn it was a man that faced them.

 

“Heh, so you do have some power,” it – he – laughed. “Good. It’s always fun when they try to fight back!”

 

“All of you need to leave,” Shin ordered. The faceguard of his helmet snapped back into place. “Byakuen, take care of them.”

 

“Not going to ask where _Tenku_ is? He can’t save you this time,” the snake man laughed.

 

“I won’t need help,” Shin countered. Kamui disagreed, but said nothing. Behind them both, Mia and Jun were climbing onto Byakuen’s back again. The tiger was probably going to carry them out of the city and onto the highway like Mia had planned, and it would definitely be more sensible to go with them, but….

 

 _‘Shin-san does need help,’_ Kamui thought to himself quickly. _‘He’s almost been blindsided twice now because he can’t look behind himself and I don’t think he can sense energy as well as me, if at all. What’s to stop something from coming up behind him and attacking from the rear? And he didn’t have all those cuts and gouges on his armor a few minutes ago….’_

“I’m staying,” Kamui decided aloud. “Mia, take Jun and Byakuen, and get going.”

 

“No, I don’t need help,” Shin said, just as Mia called out, “Are you crazy?! You need to run!”

 

“You can’t keep up with him, can you?” Kamui asked Shin quietly. He nodded his head at Shin’s armor, covered with scratches. “That’s why Touma-san sent you away.”

 

Shin flushed, but Kamui noted he did not deny it.

 

“Hmph, you’re observant, aren’t you,” the warlord mocked. “Yes, I was only a moment away from killing this stupid boy when _Tenku_ interfered. If you’re hoping he can keep you alive through this fight, you’re sadly overestimating him.”

 

“Thought so,” Kamui sighed. “Shin-san, I’m not mocking you. But you could use some help and I think I can give it.” “What are you thinking?” Shin asked warily, keeping his gaze fixed on the enemy.

 

It was a good question. Kamui remembered raising the _shakujo_ and shoving his hopes through it, feeling the relic respond to his will. It had been just like when he used the _ofuda_ , sending it to attack with a thought. It had drained him then and it drained him now. However, he did not have to shove his whole will into the spell to make it work, did he? The shield had been raised with only a second’s glimpse of danger and although he felt more tired than he had a minute earlier, it was not debilitating. So….

 

“I can barely fight to save my own life, as I’m sure you saw earlier,” Kamui said nonchalantly. His free hand came up to remove the drawstring that kept his hat hanging from his throat and he threw the head covering to the side. The next thing to go was his backpack. It was nothing but dead weight in a fight. “I don’t think I’m fast enough to hit him with a talisman and I’m definitely not strong enough to hurt him with just my own strength even if I could, but I _can_ shield you from his attacks. Do what you can and I’ll stop him from striking you.”

 

“…Do you think you really can?” Shin asked. Kamui noticed his tone was more considering than not.

 

“I think I can,” Kamui asserted.

 

“Hehehe _hahahahaha_!” The snake man laughed. “Such optimism! Let’s see how long it lasts!”

 

“Well, that’s that then,” Kamui said with fake cheer. “Mia, time to go.”

 

“All right,” she said, with surprisingly little argument. Maybe she had more faith in him than she let on?

 

“Be careful and don’t die!” Or maybe not. The tiger wheeled around with a roar and began running down the street. Kamui heard Jun’s fading cry of “Kick his metal butt!” as the boy was carried off.

 

“And then there were two,” he muttered, raising the _shakujo_ to a guard position and beginning to channel energy through it in preparation.

 

The snake man smiled nastily. “I’ll finish hunting them down after I’ve killed the two of you. I imagine it will be quite entertaining to tell them how you died screaming for mercy as my venom ate away at your bodies.”

 

“Ah, you charmer,” Kamui responded. “Shin-san, who exactly am I talking to?”

 

“Naaza, Warlord of Venom,” Shin answered. “He and the other three _masho_ are humans who swore their service to Arago centuries ago.”

 

“That’s right,” Naaza said proudly. “We are his four chosen warriors, representatives of his will and his hands in this mortal realm. These five _ronin_ are our sworn enemies, but you, stranger, should be honored to be slain by one such as me.”

 

“And yet all I can feel is disgust,” Kamui said honestly. “Has anyone ever told you that you stink like chemicals?”

 

That was the wrong response, as Naaza yelled a war cry and rushed forward with his swords extended. Shin leapt to meet him and they clashed not five feet away from Kamui, the street buckling beneath their feet as they strained at each other.

 

 _‘I should probably never mouth off to these people,’_ Kamui noted dully, wondering how much force Naaza was capable of exerting to crack the asphalt like that and not even notice it.

 

Then the fight began in earnest and Kamui was too busy to do anything more than note when the shield was needed.

 

* * *

 

 

 _‘He’s insane for wanting to stay and I’m irresponsible for letting him do it,’_ Shin thought.

 

But Kamui was right: he _had_ needed help.

 

And now he was getting it.

 

Shin wished he had had more time to talk with the older boy, time enough to ask him just what he was capable of and who had taught him to use his power, but that had not happened. He had seen the little paper _ofuda_ talisman send the first _youja_ to its knees on the street where they had all met. Then, not a minute earlier, Kamui had called up a shield capable of fending off Naaza’s swords with only a gesture. Just how powerful a mystic was Kamui? What had he been doing in the city when the attack came?

 

It did not matter at the moment, but Shin wanted to know. Could they expect more help from others? Ryo, Seiji, Shu and Touma had said that mystics were falling in number and ability as the years went on, but Kamui did not seem weak. His shield, the same golden bubble of light from earlier, was as quick as lightning. It flashed into existence every time Naaza’s swords came down and then vanished just he pulled back. Utterly unlike the fight before, Shin was able to attack freely without fear of harm.

 

Naaza seemed to realize this as well and it was driving him into a fury. His strikes were coming faster and faster, almost faster than Shin could see, but they did no damage. The edges of his swords skittered off the round shield and the venom they spat out was forced to fall to the ground instead of onto _Suiko_. Shin still had not managed to land any strikes, but it hardly seemed to matter. At this rate, Naaza was likely to tire himself out before long through sheer rage.

 

They were still on the street. Torn up tarmac and broken glass littered the area, evidence of the damage caused by their clashing power. It was getting easier to ignore, just as it was getting easier to meet Naaza’s strikes and turn them away or block them. He was stronger than Shin, yes, but not terribly so as it had seemed earlier. It was mostly a matter of leverage. As long as Shin kept him at the end of the trident’s reach, it was not a problem to respond to Naaza’s assaults.

 

 _‘I was just afraid,’_ Shin thought to himself. _‘No, I am still afraid, but it’s more manageable now. He’s just another opponent. I’ve beaten plenty of them today.’_

 

But Naaza still held the advantage with weapons. The flashing golden shield proved that. Shin was not going to beat him with just the trident. It would have to be his sure-kill attack. Nothing else that he had would do it decisively.

 

 _‘But how do I get him to stand still long enough to use it?’_ Shin wondered. _‘If he just jumps out of the way, it’ll be for nothing, and after using it twice already I don’t have much power left for another.’_

 

Shin pondered that, his trident absentmindedly flicking away another one of Naaza’s swords. The red venom flew through the air as it always did… _and began viciously eating away at Shin’s chest plate when it made contact!_

 

_‘What?!’_

 

Naaza yelled victoriously and lunged, but the golden shield snapped into place like it had never been absent. His attack was diverted to the side and Shin finally had a clear opportunity to slam the blunt end of his trident into the back of Naaza’s knees. The warlord fell – _fell!_ He had managed to hit Naaza of Venom! – and Shin swiftly spun the bladed end of his weapon towards Naaza’s head. The warlord rolled, impossibly agile in his heavy plate armor, and came up to his feet swinging. Shin cursed, his trident lashing out again and again to block the swords, and finally, blessedly, the fight halted when Naaza jumped backwards for space. Panting heavily, Shin kept his face on the warlord while twisting his weapon to catch a glimpse of Kamui in the reflection of his blades.

 

What he saw made his gut sink.

 

Kamui was leaning against the _shakujo_ like it was a crutch, his face white and strained. He looked ready to collapse from exhaustion and Shin knew why.

 

 _‘It was that shield spell he kept using,’_ Shin thought to himself. _‘Of course it doesn’t cost him nothing! Stupid, stupid! Every time he had to block Naaza’s strikes, it took a little bit of his energy. He can’t have much power left now.’_

 

Naaza had seen it as well. He smiled again. Shin hated that smile.

 

“Feeling tired, are you?” Naaza called to Kamui. “I wonder how much longer you can keep this up for him.”

 

Kamui took in one deep heaving breath and snapped out, “Long enough!” He pulled himself off of the _shakujo_ and took his guard stance again. The rings made a tiny jingling sound and Shin thought, strangely, like it sounded as though they were encouraging both of them.

 

Shin shifted his gaze back to Naaza once again. _‘This can’t go on. I need to finish this before Kamui-san collapses_.’

 

How to do it, though? That was the question.

 

Naaza took up his stance again and Shin tensed. Break time was over, it seemed.

 

Naaza launched himself forward and then… threw his swords?! Shin felt his eyes widen behind his mask and he frantically began swatting with his trident, trying to avoid having to rely on Kamui’s efforts. The first sword went to the left and the second to the right. Then the third came for his face and Shin sent it flying up into the air. The fourth went for his stomach while his arms and weapon were still raised upward, and the golden shield was the only reason he still had his intestines a moment later. The fifth came just ahead of Naaza himself, held in his outstretched left hand as he lunged at Shin. The sixth and final sword was in Naaza’s right hand and he stabbed it forward powerfully, but his aim was off. It slid right by Shin’s side… and then Naaza let go of it.

 

 _‘Oh,’_ Shin realized, too late.

 

* * *

 

 

Kamui could see the sword flying towards him, but it did not really register until Shin began yelling. Then the shield sprang up, a heavy drag on his spirit and another stab of pain in his migraine addled head. The sword screeched to a halt against the golden light channeled through the _shakujo_ and landed deeply into the concrete in front of Kamui. Then it exploded.

 

Thick red smoke and violent energy of the same color came blasting loose from the blade. It impacted Kamui’s shield hard and drove the young man to his knees, his free hand coming up to wrap around his face in a futile effort to escape the horrible smell. The golden light wavered… and faded, letting the venomous smoke roll in towards him like a predator scenting weakness. Kamui held his breath and _pushed_ , forcing the shield back into existence with the smoke inches from his body. Weirdly, the smoke did not seem to be dissipating, but one look at the sword told him why. The blade was still giving off the toxin, pumping it out like a manufacturing plant.

 

A short, sharp cry from Shin forced Kamui to look up. He winced at what he saw. Naaza had Shin on the defensive again, attacking fiercely with his blades while Shin backed away a little more with every strike. He was landing hits freely now, the clash of steel ringing in Kamui’s ears and red venom leaving smoking trails on Shin’s armor.

 

 _‘That’s why he waited until now to attack me,’_ Kamui realized. _‘He couldn’t hit Shin-san with my shield around him, so he waited for me to tire myself out and then pinned his sword next to me so I’d have to keep my own shield up. I’m too exhausted now to guard us both and he knows it, the prick.’_

 

He would have to move then. Trying to touch the sword and throw it away seemed like a horrible idea. Getting away from it would keep him from getting poisoned and free him up to help Shin. The only problem with that was….

 

_‘I think I’m going to pass out.’_

 

Kamui had no idea it would take this much energy to shield Shin. Maintaining the spell had dragged him further into exhaustion with every one of Naaza’s strikes, a situation not helped by his own need to shield himself as well for just this occasion. Additionally, whatever the shield did to block off the harmful effects of the smoke, the smell still reached him and it was disgusting, a horrible chemical scent that burned his nose and made his eyes water. The thought of standing, much less moving, seemed impossible.

 

But what was the alternative? To just let Shin die against a superior opponent while Kamui huddled behind his protection, waiting until he could hold it no longer? Unacceptable.

 

 _‘Get up,’_ Kamui told himself. _‘Get up, get up. Remember your high school graduation party._ _You have walked through the cold Hakkanai forests at night and climbed the temple steps while so drunk you could have set off every breathalyzer in the country by belching. You can hobble thirty feet to hide behind a bus station or something.’_

 

The _shakujo_ was oddly quiet. It was almost as though the rings knew he needed to avoid Naaza’s attention, an idea that seemed more likely the more Kamui thought about the bizarre circumstances that seemed to follow the _shakujo_.

 

Naaza and Shin appeared to have taken no notice of him rising to his feet. That was a good start. Kamui leaned his weight on the _shakujo_ and began walking as quickly as he dared to the nearest open doorway. He did not for a moment believe that the walls would stop Naaza from attacking him again if the warlord decided he was worth the effort, but they might slow him down.

 

Behind him, the sounds of violence continued. So too did Shin’s grunts and yelps of pain. Without Kamui’s help, Naaza was landing far more hits than he had been.

 

 _‘Just a few more seconds, Shin-san,’_ Kamui thought as he approached the open doorway of a pharmacy. _‘Just a few seconds and I can help you again.’_

 

“ _Kamui-san!!!”_

 

 _‘Oh damn,’_ Kamui thought, right before dragging every bit of power he had left and directing it towards his back on instinct. The impact still sent him flying through the doorway to collide with a shelf some thirty feet into the building. Kamui’s vision greyed and faded. His head felt like it was going to split down the middle. He could, very vaguely, make out Shin yelling something about running away. It was a ridiculous suggestion. Kamui was not going anywhere.

 

The floor was shaking slightly. It was rhythmic, the vibrations spaced apart every second or so. Kamui wondered what it was. His eyesight was coming back, slowly. Everything was spinning. No, it just felt like it was spinning. Something stank. Then something came down on his stomach, pinning him in place. There was a burning sensation and a sizzling sound, both coming from his belly. Kamui sleepily raised his head and looked. Naaza’s foot was holding him in place, dark red smoke roiling up where the armor touched him. The burning sensation quickly grew and the pain brought Kamui back to his senses.

 

“ _Get off!!!_ ” Kamui yelled desperately, writhing beneath the armored boot and trying frantically to escape the venom eating through his skin and clothes. He did not dare grab at the leg, terrified of what would happen to his hands.

 

“Where’s that smart mouth now?” Naaza mocked. There was a sword in one of his hands.

 

 _‘Where’s Shin-san?!’_ Kamui thought frantically. He had no energy left to protect himself, the _shakujo_ was gone from his hands; what was left?!

 

…Ah.

 

It was a poor idea, but better than none.

 

“You still stink,” Kamui hissed spitefully, unable to think of a better comeback. The pain made it hard to concentrate, but he was almost certain they had been in the front left pocket. If he could just reach them without Naaza noticing….

 

“ _Naaza! Fight **me** , you coward!”_ Shin screamed from somewhere.

 

But Naaza only laughed. His hand came down and grabbed the front of Kamui’s coat. The boot lifted and Kamui was hoisted up from the ground with one arm, like he weighed no more than a kitten. So close to his face, the smell of Naaza’s armor was a physical pain in his nose.

 

Naaza turned his head away Kamui and towards Shin, still in the street. “Watch closely, boy!” Naaza shouted. Kamui’s ears rang. “Consider this a taste of what I’m going to do to those Yagyu when I get my hands on the two of them! That child, too!”

 

Kamui reached down.

 

The sword in Naaza’s other hand was aimed at Kamui’s torso.

 

Shin was screaming something incomprehensible, his voice high and panicked.

 

Kamui seized the talismans in his pocket, as many as he could, and thrust them all into Naaza’s face as the warlord swung back to face his victim for the moment of murder. A single wish – _destroy this evil!_ – and a spark of power, the only bit he had left, activated the energies the head priest had sealed into them all.

 

That magic and logic rarely followed the same path was a good thing in that case, as Newton’s third law would have dictated that the same force that threw Naaza clear out into the street would also have certainly finished off Kamui by breaking every bone in his body. As it was, Kamui was simply dropped to the floor when Naaza released him out of shock and pain. Naaza was, as previously mentioned, sent flying out of the pharmacy, and past a very startled and battered Shin. He slammed into the wall of the building on the opposite side of the street and fell to the ground unmoving. His helmet was blackened and smoking, blood dribbling down from his mouth and his eyes shut.

 

He did not rise.

 

“ _Do it now!”_

 

Shin jumped, rattled by the sound. He turned back to the pharmacy and saw Kamui on his belly with his pale, pained face twisted up to look at Shin. Faint smoke was still coming off of his clothes and Shin could only imagine the agony the venom was wreaking on Kamui’s skin. In spite of that, Kamui continued to scream at him.

 

_“This is your best chance! I give you permission! Hit him now! DO IT!!!”_

 

* * *

 

 

Raise the trident.

 

Plant your feet.

 

Draw the energy from within the armor.

 

Send the energy out through the blade.

 

Pull and push.

 

Pull and push.

 

This is the ocean.

 

(Naaza groans and twitches, returning to consciousness.)

 

Stir the waves.

 

Pull and push.

 

It is like building momentum for a jump, in a way.

 

The natural state of water is rest.

 

To settle and twist into whatever shape it finds itself bound to.

 

To adapt and either melt, freeze or evaporate depending on what the environment is.

 

(The warlord lifts his head, seeing light ahead of him. What is it, he wonders.)

 

To defeat an enemy, water will wear it down gently over time.

 

It will take the path of least resistance.

 

To stir water into a crushing frenzy goes against its nature and is no easy thing.

 

But when you do….

 

When you can….

 

(The light builds and builds, and there is the static feeling of power in the air. Naaza knows. Too late, he understands.)

 

…Well, how gentle is a tsunami?

 

_“Super Wave Smasher!!!”_

* * *

 

 

Dimly, Kamui thought he heard Naaza screaming, but the sound was so far away and the roar of Shin’s attack so loud, it could just as well have been his imagination. After everything the warlord put him through in the last five minutes, it was a nice thought, though.

 

Darkness pulled at the edge of his vision and the pain was starting to dim as his mind faded.

 

“Kamui-san?”

 

 _‘Just Kamui,’_ he thought quietly. _‘I tried to run. Don’t call me with a ‘san’.’_

 

“Just hold on. I can get rid of the poison. Just hold on a bit longer.”

 

Quiet. No more fighting or yelling. Peace.

 

Then, blue. A cool, wet feeling on his belly and neck. The pain… was fading, but not because he was passing out. Actually, he felt… better, strangely enough.

 

Kamui opened his eyes and saw Shin with a hand on each of Kamui’s injuries. Empty water bottles littered the area around them and Kamui realized his clothes were soaked through.

 

“What?” Kamui asked eloquently.

 

“I can clean out the poison from your body with my armor,” Shin explained. The boy looked and sounded exhausted, but he was smiling slightly. “ _Suiko_ works best in water, so I figured I’d raid the refrigerator before I tried. It seems to have helped. At least, it isn’t usually this easy for me.”

 

“Maybe you’re just getting better,” Kamui theorized. He had no way of knowing for sure. He had only met the boy… was it just a few hours ago? How time flew. Gingerly, the young man sat up, helped by Shin. He carefully reached out with his mind, wincing when even that small activity caused a spike in his headache, but it was the discovery of clashing energy that made him groan. The other Samurai Troopers were still fighting.

 

“Your friends aren’t done yet,” Kamui mumbled. “Are you going to go help them?”

 

“Ah, yes, I think so,” Shin said. “If you feel well enough to remain on your own for a little while. Byakuen will have taken Yagyu-san and Jun-kun further than I can follow now, and you’re probably fine here if you don’t draw attention to yourself.”

 

“She wants to be called Mia, actually,” Kamui corrected in a tired, dead sort of voice. Sleep sounded very good to him right then.

 

“What?” Shin asked.

 

“Yagyu-san, as you keep calling her. She said, given the informal situation, that she would rather be called Mia. I prefer just Kamui myself. And Jun decided if we weren’t using honorifics, then he didn’t want one either.”

 

“Oh, um, okay. Anyway, I should get going. The sooner the other three _masho_ are beaten, the sooner we can get to Yagyu-sensei, keep him safe, and then go defeat Arago.”

 

“You’re a real optimist, aren’t you?” Kamui laughed. “You say it like it’s so easy.”

 

“Well, I’m the weakest Trooper there is and you’re a squishy monk, but we just beat the _Doku Masho_ and sent him crying back to his master. I honestly feel pretty good right now.”

 

“M’not a monk,” Kamui mumbled. But then he considered Shin’s words and a small smile broke out onto his face. “Yeah, we did, didn’t we? Bet that slimy snake never expected to lose. Heh.”

 

“You see?” Shin smiled. “You just have to trust that things will turn out all right. Anyway, take care. I’ll try to come back soon.”

 

“Wait.”

 

Shin half turned from the door and caught the water bottle Kamui had thrown him in one hand.

 

“Remember what Naaza said? Something about Touma-san not being able to help? If he’s been poisoned, you might need that to help get rid of it.”

 

Shin’s eyes widened.

 

“I forgot! Oh damn, I should hurry. Thank you Kamui-san!”

 

“It’s Kamui!” the young man yelled after the Trooper, but he doubted that Shin heard him. Sighing tiredly, the young man set about finding the _shakujo_ first and bandages second.

 

* * *

 

 

Shin raced through the streets of Shinjuku, following the inner pull of one armor to the others. Touma had cautioned him often enough about the dangers of traveling over rooftops and that was during normal times. With three more _masho_ to deal with and who knew what else, making a big easy target of himself was asking for trouble.

 

The thought of Touma brought another stab of guilt. Despite all of the armors’ powers, there were still limits to all of them. Only Seiji and Shin had any healing abilities, and only Shin could remove poison. Seiji simply had to keep healing the damage until it ran its course. Even if Seiji had already managed to heal Touma, then the man was likely still suffering from Naaza’s bite.

 

 _‘Why didn’t I remember that?!’_ Shin cursed himself. _‘I forgot all about it and then took my sweet time chatting with Kamui-san. I should have just healed him, told him to stay put and left!_ ’

 

There were sounds coming to him now, echoing strangely through the maze of tall buildings. The ground shook harder the closer he came to the fight and twice on his way there had he seen the brilliant explosion of light that meant a Samurai Trooper sure-kill. His comrades were certainly still fighting, but how well or poorly they were doing remained to be seen.

 

_‘I just need to focus on Touma-san. The others can handle the fighting themselves and I’m basically on empty right now. Just find Touma-san, heal him and get back until it’s over.’_

 

Shin turned another street corner and found the road blocked by a fallen building. Without a thought, Shin jumped as high as he could. His leap carried him over the rubble easily… and straight into the street-spanning spider web that had not been there a moment ago.

 

 _‘Oh **hell** ,’_ Shin thought despairingly. As hard as he pulled, the webbing would not let go.

And what was worse….

 

“Ah. What have I caught?”

 

The web spinner was nearby.

 

Hanging upside down from a nearby ledge, Rajura, Warlord of Illusion, idly stared at the prey his trap had caught.

 

“ _Suiko?_ Was Naaza unable to keep track of you?”

 

“I beat Naaza just a few minutes ago!” Shin shouted. That it had been a desperate victory fueled primarily by sheer luck and Kamui’s help was not something he felt worth mentioning. “Cut me loose and we’ll see if you do any better!”

 

“He lost to a child? How embarrassing. However, if you think you’ve killed him, you are sadly mistaken,” Rajura drawled. Seemingly without effort, he twisted himself upright to stand on the ledge and jumped down to street level. Rajura calmly walked closer to his web, his heavy steps clanking against the asphalt.

 

“Whatever his mistake today, Naaza has fought battles unending for four hundred years, boy. Unless you saw his body – and I don’t believe you did, no? No. Oh, how sad – then he still lives. You, however,” and his hand reached around to the bizarre contraption on his back, pulling it loose. Six razor sharp scythes all attached to one handle. He raised it to eye level and pointed it at Shin.

 

“Will not be leaving here alive. Youngest and weakest of our enemies you may be, but you still dared to raise arms against my Master. There is only one punishment for that.”

 

The scythes swung down.

 

“ _Web of Deception!”_

 

The scythes launched forward on purple... poles? Ropes? Shin could not tell. He doubted that it mattered, not when the blades were the important parts. They sank into the webbing holding Shin, but did not cut him free. Rather, where they struck, more webbing sprang up and began falling towards him. The white strands tightened horribly, crushing his face, torso, arms and legs. If he had not been wearing his full armor, Shin was certain he would have already died. As it was, he could still feel his armor compressing slowly, crushing the air from his lungs and preventing him from pulling in more. The bottle with the water split apart and cold liquid dripped through his fingers.

 

“You are going to suffocate,” Rajura was saying. Shin could no longer see him, but the words came through loud and clear. “My webs will rob the breath from your body.” He sounded bored. “I should thank you, I suppose. _Korin_ has vanished and, from the sound of things, none of the others have claimed a victory yet. With _Suiko_ in hand, I will the only one gaining the Emperor’s favor today.”

 

_“Thunderbolt Cut!!!”_

 

Brilliant green light covered the world. Shin shut his eyes and rode it out, feeling the power sing through the air. Rajura was yelling and then the webs suddenly vanished, sending Shin tumbling to the ground. Another moment passed and then Shin could see again as Seiji’s attack faded. The clanking of metal drew his attention to the right.

 

Seiji was walking out of a garage, his sword of light shining brilliantly in his hands. “Sorry about that, Shin-kun. I figured that was the best chance I would get and moved around to take my shot. Are you all right?”

 

Coughing, Shin nodded. Nothing felt broken or hurt terribly much, though the loss of the water was annoying. Still, there was every chance he could find some more. “Tou… Touma-san was poisoned. Where did….”

 

“Yeah, Naaza got him. I’ve been trying to get over there, but Rajura insisted I keep him company. Shu should still be with him. You should go head over to help Touma.”

 

Confused and still coughing, Shin pointed at Seiji himself.

 

Seiji grimaced, looking uncomfortable. “I’d like to go, but I need to finish this first.”

 

“So, you noticed after all?”

 

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. Rajura.

 

“That the ‘you’ I’d hit wasn’t really ‘you’? Yeah, that was clear enough after I let go,” Seiji sighed. “Shin-kun, try to get going. I’m going to be here a while yet, I think.”

 

“He’s not leaving,” Rajura hissed.

 

The world blurred. In front of Shin’s eyes, the buildings began to melt, windows and doors sagging into drippy bends as the concrete holding them in place slumped. The street began to waver, shifting left and right like a swaying bridge. The light intensified to a painful degree. Seiji vanished into thin air.

 

Shin shut his eyes against it all, unable to process it without feeling nauseas.

 

 _‘Warlord of Illusion,’_ he thought. _‘It’s going to be like fighting blind.’_

 

Shin leapt forward and up, trusting his memory to carry him to the rooftops. It was more to avoid any attacks Rajura launched at that moment then for any long term plan. In midair, Shin opened his eyes and did his best to ignore the swirling chaos that the street had become. He focused instead on the blades of his trident and the clear reflections they showed him.

 

 _‘Rajura can fool your eyes, your ears, your nose, even your tongue and nose if he really wants to,’_ Touma had said. _‘But he can’t fool your armor. Look for him in the reflection of your weapon. Don’t get panicked. Remember, nothing you may see or hear is actually there, no matter how horrible it is. And all those illusions he uses take power and focus, just like when you heal someone. He can’t do it forever and the more complex the illusion, the more he has to focus. If he’s using something really heavy duty, he’s almost certainly standing still. Find him fast and hit him hard.’_

 

Shin twisted the trident quickly, keeping his gaze firmly on the blades and nothing else. Seiji had moved to the building on the opposite side of the street and was doing the same thing, if his angled _no-dachi_ was anything to go by. The reflected street showed nothing else. It made sense, Shin was forced to admit. If his main tactic was to confuse opponents with illusions, he would not stand out in the open either. Rajura was almost certainly watching them from a window somewhere.

 

 _‘Maybe I can just start smashing buildings? …No, bad idea. We’re trying to save the city, not destroy it_.’

 

“So, boy, how are you enjoying your first day of war?”

 

Again, Rajura’s voice came from nowhere at all. He may as well have been speaking directly in front of Shin, from the side and behind him all at once.

 

“Have you seen anyone die yet or did we snatch all the humans away before someone was trampled?”

 

_‘Where is he?’_

 

Shin had made a complete circle by then. Aside from Seiji, no one was reflected in his blades. It was looking more and more likely that he would have to start going from building to building. There was no possible way that would end well, though. Therefore, as unpleasant as it was, there remained a sort of relief in Rajura bursting out from the roof beneath his feet.

 

The illusion wavered and faded, the world returning to what passed for normal in Shinjuku that day. Shin only had a moment to appreciate it before gravity took hold and, combined the grip Rajura had around his ankles, sent him careening down to smash through two floors and come to a jarring, crashing stop against the ground level floor. Then he was sent deeper still into the floor when a spiked fuchsia mace collided violently with his torso.

 

Shin gasped hoarsely, trying to drag air back into his aching lungs after losing all of it to Rajura’s strike. His eyes were watering, but he could still see the mace swinging back down towards him. Then he could not, the air filling with dust and plaster as Seiji decided to forego the door or windows and simply plowed through the third floor wall to cut at Rajura. The mace slammed into the floor briefly, then was snagged when the line went taut and Rajura was pushed away. It was dragged off the floor and through the air, forcing Shin to throw himself flat to the floor again or be given a broken nose.

 

“Shin-kun, go help Touma!”

 

“He isn’t leaving here alive _and neither are you!”_

 

At Rajura’s voice, all sight left Shin. Pitch black covered the world, with only _Suiko_ still showing. Sound was still coming through just fine and Shin could hear steel ringing against steel above him.

 

_‘Do I help Seiji-san or go help Touma-san? …No, Seiji-san’s fought blind before, he said so. Touma-san’s still poisoned. I need to get to him… wait… where **is** Touma-san?! He never told me!’_

 

All right. Trying to jump up would probably just result in getting brained by the ceiling. Where was the door? Shin tilted his spear blade, trying to find the door. Ah, there. Right behind him. Shin blindly turned and stepped forward, reaching out. The world was still black when he found the door and stepped through it. The door shook in its frame at the same time a horrible crashing sound came from above. The sound of fighting shifted and Shin thought that Seiji and Rajura had burst through the other side of the building.

 

Now it was probably safe to jump. Shin launched himself up… and tried not to shriek when his vision came back at the worst possible time, when he was one foot away from reaching the roof and bracing for the impact. Shin hit the roof with a clatter of metal, falling flat onto his face. Below him, he heard the words _“Thunderbolt”_ and curled into a fetal position as Seiji shouted _“Cut!”_ Green light took the place of black, blinding Shin for several long moments as the world shook.

 

It ended just as the building beneath him began to collapse. _‘Oh you’ve got to be,_ ’ was as far as Shin got before scrambling to his feet and running across the roof. He launched himself onto the next building on the street and kept going, swaying back and forth, trying to keep his footing while running as the falling building impacted against the standing one.

 

Seiji flew into the air from ground level and landed nearby just as the shaking finally stopped. Shin could see him gritting his teeth even through the dust and gloom.

 

“Did you get him?” Shin asked, somehow knowing what the answer was already.

 

“No, he vanished again,” Seiji answered predictably. “I hate fighting Rajura; finding him is a pain, hitting him is a challenge, and making sure he’s really, actually gone is impossible. Give me one of the others any day.”

 

“We should go find Touma-san,” Shin reminded him gently. “If Rajura has retreated for now, this is probably our best chance.”

 

“I recall telling you to do that a moment ago,” Seiji grumbled, but he sheathed the _no-dachi_ and waved a hand for Shin to lead the way.

 

Shrugging sheepishly, Shin said, “Well, you never told me where he was. How was I supposed to know where to go?”

 

Seiji blinked, looking surprised. “Oh, so you don’t know where he is?”

 

Shin stared at him, utterly confused. “Of course not, I’ve been away from all – “

 

A horrible thought suddenly entered Shin’s mind.

 

He stopped speaking and looked down the blades of his trident, which he had lowered as he spoke. The angle was wrong to get a clear picture, but even without details the bright fuchsia color of Rajura’s armor in front of him was as clear as could be, confirming both that A) Shin was a trusting moron, and B) the next few seconds of his life were going to be very painful.

 

There was not even time to curse himself for carelessness before the first strike took him square in the face. The image of Seiji vanished like a dream as the image of Rajura appeared, his _nunchaku_ flying from hand to hand as he beat them against Shin over and over again. It only lasted a few moments, and then Rajura grabbed Shin’s helmet and forced Shin’s head down while raising his own knee up.

 

Shin saw stars, heard gongs, and felt bone break all at once. Conscious thought ceased. He collapsed boneless to the roof and did not move, only vaguely aware of Rajura taking his scythe weapon off of his back.

 

“So much for you,” Rajura spat contemptuously. The blades raised, six cruel claws ready to dig through enchanted metal to the soft flesh beneath.

 

Then Seiji’s _no-dachi_ carved a furrow into Rajura’s unprotected back, metal squealing horribly as it was rent apart.

 

Rajura screamed as well, a terrible pain filled sound that barely seemed human. Shin flinched to hear it. Seiji did not, pulling his _no-dachi_ back from his strike and sending it forward in a textbook perfect thrust that… pierced through a fading Rajura and did nothing at all. Off to the side, very close by, came the sound of clattering metal and when Shin turned his head he could see a sort of mirage effect in vaguely human shape scrambling away from the two Troopers.

 

Seiji bared his teeth and raised his blade. “You aren’t – “

 

Lightning flashed, turning the world inside out. Shin felt the air burning against his face, not only with heat, but with a palpable sense of _rage_ as well. He heard Rajura pleading to be forgiven and then it was over. Looking over at where the retreating warlord had been crawling, Shin could see a that whole section of the roof was gone, as if the ice cream scooper of the gods had descended from on high. There was no way to tell for sure – it could have just been another illusion – but Shin was almost certain that Rajura was actually gone.

 

Next to him, Seiji lowered his blade with a frustrated growl. “Damn it. Just a bit further with that first strike and I could have cut him in half.”

 

“Maybe next time,” Shin said weakly. Even speaking hurt.

 

Seiji seemed to notice him for the first time and sighed. “Off with the helmet. Let me see what’s happened.”

 

Removing the faceguards took a thought; removing the helmet took slightly more. Shin carefully sat up, feeling gingerly for the strap holding _Suiko_ ’s helmet in place. Rajura had concentrated most of his _nunchaku_ strikes on Shin’s face and every little bump of fingers against skin hurt terribly. Seiji finally grew tired of his wincing and leaned forward to do it himself. Shin did not want to know what he looked like and was glad Seiji said nothing beyond a disapproving “Mph.” Then his hands were on Shin’s face and sweet healing light from _Korin_ came to wash away the damage and pain. It was the work of only a few seconds and then Seiji was pulling away to offer Shin a hand up.

 

“That’s better,” Seiji said. “Now, how about the two of us go help Touma? I think he’s waited long enough.”

 

“Do you remember where he is?”

 

“Yeah, I left him in the lobby of some building with a Coca-Cola billboard hanging off the side. It was about kilometer that way. Let’s see if we can get there without attracting any more attention.”

 

“…You don’t _actually_ believe that, do you Seiji-san?”

 

“No, but in situations like this you should try to be optimistic. Come on, kid.”

 

* * *

 

 

Far away and going further, Mia was still scared.

 

Jun was as quiet as a mouse behind her, his arms locked tight around her waist. He had not said a single word since his final goodbye to Kamui and Shin. No, not final, Mia told herself firmly. There was every chance that they would all meet up again.

 

_‘But they were two teenagers against a demon. Even two super powered teenagers are still teenagers. Could they actually beat a Dark Warlord?’_

 

She was afraid to consider that question too much. She had known them both for only a few hours, but both Shin and Kamui had fought to protect her from death or worse. The thought of either of them dying was like a punch to the gut.

 

Byakuen had carried them out of Shinjuku by then and into the Bunkyo ward. The university was growing closer and closer each second. That thought should have made her happy, but the fact that they had yet to see any other people was disheartening. If the _Youjakai_ ’s influence had spread beyond Shinjuku to Bunkyo, who knew how much further it had spread? Her grandfather might not be at the university. Her grandfather might not be on Earth at all.

 

No one might left but her, Jun and Byakuen.

 

 _‘And stop **right there** , because down that road lies madness,’_ Mia told herself firmly. Shu had told her that the _Youjakai_ could not take hold of the entire country all at once. He would not have lied about that. If they had yet to meet anyone, it was just as well, really. A woman and a child riding a Siberian tiger through the streets of an otherwise deserted city would have caused questions.

 

_‘Still, assume the best and plan for the worst. What if grandfather is gone?’_

 

She would have to collect as many of his notes as she could. Most of the records had been copied to electronic format by her hands, so she just had to stuff all of the floppy disks into a bag until she could find a new computer. The written notes she had not yet gotten around to transcribing would have to come too. And there were a few artifacts that her grandfather had always been going on about, saying that they had some legend or another attached to them and he thought it related to his theories….

 

So caught up in her planning was she that Mia did not notice when Byakuen began to slow, not until he came to a complete, jarring stop and roared a challenge. Jun’s fingers tightened painfully, digging into her skin hard enough to bruise.

 

“Mia, something’s there,” Jun whispered.

 

Indeed there was.

 

Through the fog came the dreadful _pound-pound-pound_ of booted feet marching in step. Painful light suddenly snapped to life, blinding Mia and the others instantly. She threw a hand up over her face, desperately trying to salvage some of her vision.

 

“ _Don’t move!”_ something yelled.

 

Byakuen roared and lunged.

 

* * *

 

 

They found Ryo’s fight quickly enough. Shin thought that a blind, deaf and dumb man could have found Ryo’s fight, but he did not say so out loud. The constant, small scale energy attacks were a fairly clear indicator of where he was.

 

“If he’s going that far, he needs help,” Seiji muttered. They had stopped beneath a road overpass to rest for a moment. Well, so Shin could rest for a moment. Seiji seemed perfectly fine still. At Seiji’s words, Shin raised his head up and made a questioning sound.

 

Seiji frowned at him. He looked conflicted. “Ryo knows not to just throw those types of attacks around. Well, mostly. If he’s at the point where collateral damage isn’t even a consideration, he probably needs a hand. Problem is….” “You don’t know if he’s fighting one or two of the _masho_ ,” Shin finished for him.

 

Seiji sighed. “Yeah.”

 

Feeling each other out was easy enough, provided they were in range. Shin could only manage to point out his comrades if they were within fifty or so yards and that was when he was really trying to, but the others had much more skill with it. Touma was the best of all, able to locate any of his comrades from several kilometers off. However, the four seasonal armors remained corrupted and closed off from them. Most of the Troopers had to get very close before they could hazard a guess as to which one they were approaching. Touma was the only one who could do it with any great range. From as far away as they were, neither Seiji nor Shin had any idea whether or not Shuten Douji, Anubis, or both of them were what was giving Ryo a hard time.

 

Which meant that if Seiji left to go help Ryo, sent Shin on ahead and there was only one warlord to be seen fighting Ryo… the youngest Trooper could potentially be heading into his third Dark Warlord fight of the day.

 

Shin waited for Seiji to ask him if he was up for that, but the question did not come. After a moment, Shin realized it never would. Seiji had healed him, had sent _Korin’s_ restoring power through his body. He likely knew exactly how much Shin was not up for that.

 

 _‘But I need to get to Touma-san,’_ Shin thought. _‘Just like Seiji-san needs to get to Ryo-san. How long has it been already? He must be in a horrible amount of pain.’_

 

Decision made, Shin stood up wearily. The trident helped. Planting the dull end into the ground gave him something to lean on.

 

“Seiji-san, you should go to Ryo-san,” Shin said quietly.

 

“That has the potential to be very bad for you,” Seiji pointed out baldly, but he did not refuse.

 

“I know,” Shin answered. “But Touma-san needs me and Ryo-san needs you. If both Anubis and Shuten are there, fine. If it’s just one of them, Shu-san is around here somewhere. Odds are he’ll show up if I start fighting near him.”

 

“And if he does not?” Seiji pressed. His face had lost its look of conflict and now he simply looked serious. “If you’re wrong, you’ll be going into a fight exhausted. Think about that.”

 

“I am,” Shin answered patiently. “I’m not completely drained yet. Resting here helped and so did your healing me. I’m not at one hundred percent, but I’ll do well enough if it comes to that.”

 

“You’re sure about this?”

 

“Not really, but it seems like the quickest way to get this done,” Shin admitted. “We’ve gotten two of the four _masho_ down and the palace isn’t far off. We could be smashing Arago’s face in by tomorrow night or sooner, but only if we beat down his guards. Having Touma-san around is going to make that much easier.”

 

There was a long, thoughtful silence. Seiji’s face was a smooth mask beneath his helmet, giving Shin no idea of what his thoughts were. Finally he sighed.

 

“There is nothing about this that I like, but I suppose I should be used to that feeling by now. All right, go on. Be careful and run away if trouble appears. I’ve healed you up enough for one day.”

 

“Yes sir,” Shin said quietly.

 

They parted there beneath the overpass; Seiji heading north towards the sounds of crashing buildings and explosions, and Shin heading west towards where Touma supposedly still was.

 

The building was found easily enough. It did indeed have a billboard with a Coca-Cola billboard on it, taking up the entirety of the third floor on the side nearest Shin. It was some kind of business corporation HQ, one of the many that littered Shinjuku like freckles. The doors were smashed, giving a fairly clear indicator of where someone had gone. Whether it was Shu, Touma or a warlord remained to be seen.

 

_‘Who am I kidding? It’s an enemy. The way this day has been going, it can’t be anything but a warlord.’_

 

Shin stopped in the doorway, trying to look inside through the gloom. The light seemed to just cease after a few feet, gobbled up by the dark interior.

 

“Shu-san? Touma-san?” Shin yelled. “Where are you?”  

 

There was no answer.

 

Sighing grimly, Shin lifted the trident/walking stick from the ground and set forth into the building. If Seiji had been with him, _Korin_ could have cast back the darkness. The best he could do was use the trident as a walking stick, gently tapping ahead of him to make sure he was not about to walk down a flight of stairs. The darkness was absolute in spite of the windows and faded daylight outside.

 

It was not _necessarily_ a sign of Anubis’ presence, but it was not a good indicator. Then again, the slowly growing cold that had his breath misting in front of him was nothing natural.

 

His comrades had taught him what it was like to fight blind, but he was nowhere near as good as they were. If he was attacked inside the building, his best bet would be to just charge through the walls and out of the darkness if he could. Like Rajura and his illusions, Anubis had a great range when it came to his field of darkness, but it was not limitless.

 

 _‘Darkness, winter and corruption,’_ Shin thought. _‘They all have such nice powers, these warlords.’_

 

Where were Shu and Touma? Even if they could not see him, they should have been able to hear him. Unless they were on the upper floors, which was possible. Shin thought of trying to climb stairs in the dark and sighed. It would be better – and probably safer - to go outside, break a window and just jump into the next floor. Less chance of getting ambushed, probably.

 

…But where was the entrance?

 

With a sinking feeling, Shin realized he had lost his bearings. With the pitch darkness wrapping around him from all sides, there was no way to tell where he had come in.

 

 _‘Oh great,’_ Shin thought. _‘All I need now-‘_

 

“What have we here?” came the voice in the dark.

 

_‘-is that.’_

 

Just like Rajura, Anubis’ voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. The air grew colder with every second.

 

“Where are my comrades?” Shin asked. He doubted anything useful would come of it, but the day had been full of surprises.

 

“ _Tenku_ and _Kongo_? Oh, they’re cowering around here somewhere.”

 

Was that a breeze from an open window that just brushed passed his face? Or was it the fluttering of a cape?

 

“Or maybe they’re already dead and I’m on my way back to the Master with their armor and corpses.”

 

“Liar,” Shin spat. The armor connected them. He would know if one of them was dead, certainly.

 

“Maybe,” Anubis laughed. Where was he? “Tell me boy, how old are you?”

 

“Old enough,” Shin answered. He kept the trident in a ready position, slowly edging his way forward. He had yet to hit a wall, but had no idea how long that would remain so.

 

“Eighteen? No, not that old yet, surely. Sixteen. …Fifteen? You cannot be younger than fifteen, am I correct? So, fifteen years old and already willing to fight and die in defense of your world. I’m impressed,” Anubis’ voice was downright jovial. “I thought all the children of this era were weak and lazy, ready to disobey their elders and follow their own selfish wants and needs. But you never even once tried to give back the armor and remain an ordinary boy, did you?”

 

Shin said nothing, but his heart was beating faster. He knew what Anubis was implying, what he had implied before with Yagyu-sensei, but he did not want to hear it.

 

“Except… you _did_ try to give it back, didn’t you? ‘ _I’m too scared to fight monsters. I can’t do this. Find someone else, please!’_ Not very inspiring, were you? Clearly bravery is not your virtue.”

 

There was a wall. Shin turned to put his back to it and continued edging along it.

 

“You were right to be afraid, boy. Do you think for one moment you ever had a chance of defeating us? You’re a foolish little child playing with a toy too big for you. I have killed more stupid little boys then I can be bothered to recall. Gutted them, dismembered them, decapitated them; I don’t know how _you_ will die just yet, but give me some time.”

 

The corner was at his shoulder. Shin felt his way around it and came to a doorway. He inched through it.

 

“Or maybe I’ll be kind. Arago-sama is always looking for more loyal warriors for his cause. If you bow down now and accept me as your commander, and Arago-sama as your lord, maybe I’ll just take you back with me instead. …And then I won’t have to go to that little house in Hagi one dark night, knock on the door and – “

 

“I beat Naaza into the ground,” Shin said firmly.

 

Silence.

 

“He was just as nasty as you, and just as dangerous as you, and a fifteen year old boy who had never held a weapon in his life until a few months ago sent him howling back to his ‘Arago-sama.’ I’m not impressed. Whatever Arago picked you lot for, competence clearly was not a factor. I’m not joining you, ever. You’re all evil and if you honestly believe that demon honors you with his favors, you’re stupid too. Try and fight me. I’ll beat you like I did Naaza. If you still think two defenseless woman are more of a challenge on your level, I’ll understand. He didn’t pick you for bravery either. But if you ever go near my family, I will make you wish you hadn’t ever been born.”

 

The attack came from his left. Three burning claws of cold raking across his faceplate, the tips catching the exposed skin and slicing it apart. Shin screamed and fell back, the trident stabbing wildly into the dark. It hit nothing and Anubis’ voice was as cold as winter itself.

 

“ _Clearly you don’t want to live to be sixteen!”_

 

The claws came again, slicing against his faceguard. A heavy blade – Anubis’ sword of darkness – crashed against Shin’s right side and cut deep into the armor, sending a wave of cold into Shin’s body. The trident tumbled loose from Shin’s hands and clattered to the floor.

 

A hand grabbed the point of his helmet and wrenched his head up. Three invisible points of cold metal dug into his neck.

 

And then…

 

Something went _clang_ right in front of Shin. The claws at his throat disappeared, as did the hand holding his helm. There was a presence next to him, strong and solid.

 

“Shu-san?” Shin gasped.

 

He could not see the man in orange armor, but the voice was the same. “Yeah, it’s good old me. I wondered where Anubis had gone to and decided to go on a wolf hunt. Good thing for you I did, eh?”

 

The sound of metal shifting. A low growl of rage.

 

“You are going to pay for that, _Kongo_ ,” Anubis spat.

 

“Doubt it,” Shu laughed. “The way you move, I’ve got no trouble keeping track of you. Hey Shin-kun? Let the adults work things out down here. Touma’s three floors up on the left side. Go take care of him, ‘kay?”

 

Having claws at one’s throat did wonders to realign one’s priorities. Shin nodded and turned to feel his way up the stairs while Shu stepped forward to fight Anubis. Then, two steps up, Shin paused.

 

“Shu-san.”

 

“Yeah, kid?”

 

“Anubis said something about visiting my mother and sister in Hagi. Please make sure he can’t ever get around to doing that.”

 

There was a pause.

 

“… _Did he now…?”_

 

“You think we don’t know where you sleep? Where you live? Where your _families_ live? Every action you have taken against us will be repaid upon them a dozen times ov – _augh!!!”_

 

Light flooded the room. Anubis was gone, but there was a warlord sized hole in the wall that led outside. Shu was glowing orange, his _naginata_ a shining beacon of death, and Shin could feel the earth rumbling beneath his feet.

 

Shu turned to Shin and smiled. It was not as nasty as Naaza’s, but it was close. “I’m going to go rip off his arms and beat him with them. Heal Touma and hurry up to join the fun.”

 

“Yes sir,” Shin said.

 

Shu left through the hole while Shin went up the stairs.

 

Touma was sitting against the wall of the manager’s office, his golden bow laying across his knees. Shin saw the problem immediately; a great rent had been opened up in the armor of his right thigh. It stank of Naaza’s venom and Shin winced to think of how much it had to be hurting Touma. The older man turned his head at the sound of Shin entering the room, but said nothing.

 

Shin did not bother asking if Touma was all right. The answer was clearly no. A water cooler was set into the wall behind the manager’s desk. Shin ripped the entire five gallon tank loose, dragging it across the carpet and spilling water everywhere, but he paid it no mind. He really only needed a little for the wound itself and even having water nearby in the carpet would help.

 

“Hold still Touma-san, this won’t take long,” Shin said. Touma _hm_ ed quietly, which was apparently all the energy he could spare for a reply. Shin did not waste any more time talking and began dumping the remaining water over Touma’s injured leg. Drawing on _Suiko_ ’s energy, he channeled it through the water and into Touma’s body.

 

The poison had spread quickly, Shin could tell at once. Kamui only had a little skin contact poisoning to clear up, but Touma’s wound had let it into his blood. It had wreaked havoc with his organs and was damaging the nerves as well. Sadly, Shin could not do much about that and had to let it be. Cleaning out toxin and infection, reducing fevers, lessening pain; those were all within his capabilities, but actually healing injuries remained solely within Seiji’s domain.

 

 _‘Unfortunately,’_ Shin thought morosely.

 

“I’ve almost finished cleaning out the venom Touma-san,” Shin said quietly. “But I can’t do anything about the damage it’s already done to you. We need to find Seiji-san for that.”

 

“Noted,” Touma said tiredly. “What happened after Naaza took me out?”

 

“Um, well, I went down to find the others, but they had all taken off on Byakuen. Some _youja_ had broken in while we were away and tried to kill them. I caught up with them at the next station and that was when Naaza caught up with us. Byakuen took away Yagyu-sa… er, Mia-san.”

 

“ _Mia_ -san?” Touma asked, surprised.

 

“She said that was what she wanted to be called,” Shin shrugged. “Anyway, Byakuen took Mia-san and Jun-kun away, while Kamui-san and I stayed behind to fight Naaza. It took some work, but we won. After that – “

 

“Wait,” Touma held a hand. “Wait, wait. Wait. _You_ beat Naaza. You and the monk.”

 

“…Well, yes.”

 

“...Heheheh… hahaha _hahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!_ ”

 

“Touma-san, stop laughing! It was horrible!”

 

“I know, but can you imagine what his face must have looked like when he realized he was about to have a teenager hand him his own ass?! _HAHAHAHA!!!”_

 

“You know what, we’re done here. Let’s go find the others.”

 

Touma had to lean on Shin’s shoulder to get down the stairs. They exited through the same hole that Shu and Anubis had gone through earlier. The sky was beginning to turn to true black as the sun behind the _Youjakai_ -induced clouds began to set on the day. A few more minutes and visibility would be almost nothing.

 

“We should hurry,” Shin said. “It was bad enough doing this in the day, I don’t want to risk running into a monster at night.”

 

“It’ll happen sooner or later,” Touma pointed out. “But for now, take us about four kilometers that way.” Touma’s dark blue arm rose to point to towards a skyscraper. A moment later and Shin saw the white light of Ryo’s energy attack flare up, then fade away.

 

“Ryo and Seiji are both fighting there, and Shu’s on his way there now,” Touma explained. “Shuten and Anubis are both that way as well.”

 

“So it’s going to be a free for all,” Shin sighed. He lowered the trident behind his back, holding it horizontally at the small of his back. Touma quickly climbed onto Shin’s back, the pole of the trident acting as a leg holder. As soon as Shin felt Touma’s hands wrap around his shoulders, he took off running.

 

Touma laughed in his ear. “Those are the best ones, Shin-kun. Everyone’s fighting everyone, so you never have to worry about anyone else noticing your screw-ups.”

 

(In a tiny, imperceptible movement, Shin flinched.)

 

Touma tilted his head. “Shin-kun?”

 

“I’m sorry I panicked,” Shin said. “I thought it would be all right since I’d fought _youja_ before, but as soon as we started going up the stairs I got scared and I couldn’t stop. Then Naaza went after me, you all went off to take care of your battles, and all I could think of was how I was going to die.”

 

“…Shin-kun, you’ve never fought them before,” Touma said quietly, his voice reassuring. “We didn’t plan on leaving you to take care of a warlord on your own, it just sort of happened like that. As soon as I had a moment to find my bearings, I came to help. And panicking isn’t something you should do in a fight, but you kept fighting even while you were panicking, which is the best thing you could have done under the circumstances.”

 

“But you didn’t. You –“

 

“ _I am_ _sixty-two years old_ , Shin-kun. I have spent over forty of those years fighting monsters of some form or another, from the _Youjakai_ and our own world. You are a teenager. You’ve been in only a few fights and every time we were there to help you if things went bad. Nothing you faced before came close to the _masho_. If you get anything out of this conversation, let it be this: _do not_ feel bad about them scaring you. They still scare me sometimes, when I let myself think about what they can do. Ah, we’re here.”

 

Well, not entirely. There was still a way to go, but Shin could quite clearly hear words and clashing weapons now, in addition to the chaotic sounds of mass destruction. Shin took a running leap onto a nearby rooftop and stared down at the destruction that had been wreaked.

 

It was only a small part of a vast disaster, he was sure. As much as he was seeing, there was bound to be much more he could not see. What he could see was bad enough, though. Long slices had been burned into the streets and surrounding architecture, the edges black and smoking. Cars were overturned, smashed and on fire. The few windows and doorways that still stood were broken and warped, but most had simply shattered or been knocked loose from their frames. Whole buildings had collapsed into shapeless piles of rubble and where the streets were not gone entirely, they were cracked and torn open. Smoke and dust filled the air, making every breath of clean air his armor gave him a blessing.

 

“So, what’s it look like?” Touma asked as he slid down from Shin’s back.

 

Shin considered for a moment.

 

“…I think I understand your stories about Hiroshima a bit more now.”

 

Touma whistled low. “That bad, eh?”

 

“Can you find Seiji-san? We need him to fix your leg.”

 

“Ah, just a moment,” Touma said. He turned his head this way and that way, like a dog scenting for a smell. Shin thought that Touma looked strangely serene considering the circumstances. After a few moments, Touma pointed down and forward.

 

“He’s there. I can feel Anubis near him. We might have to intervene.”

 

“What do you mean ‘we’? You’re still injured,” Shin reminded him. Then he started as Touma pulled the golden bow off of his back and unfolded it with a twist of his wrist.

 

“Oh, this little scratch? It won’t matter for this,” Touma said cheerfully. A golden arrow materialized out of the rectangular quiver and Touma smoothly set it to the bowstring, then pulled it back.

 

Shin had not spent a lot of time thinking about how much strength the armor gave them. He just labeled it as ‘a lot’ and left it at that. Touma, being the scientifically inclined person that he was, had at some point actually done a few experiments to calculate out how much their natural strength increased when under the influence of their armor. He had told Shin that, without getting into the specifications and variations of each individual armor, they were all about ten times stronger in the under-armor and somewhere around _two hundred times stronger_ when in full armor.

 

Touma reached the limit of his draw and verified his target.

 

Once, just for fun, Shin had tried to use each of the other Troopers’ weapons. It had ended with him making an ass out of himself using the twin _katana_ and the _no-dachi_ , and putting in a decent showing with Shu’s _naginata_. He had not been able to draw the bow at all, though. The weight on the string had been too much. When he had told Touma why he had not managed to fire even one arrow, the older man had laughed and explained that one simply _had_ to be in full armor to use the _Tenku_ bow. The under-armor Shin had been practicing in just did not have enough strength to it.

 

Touma released his arrow.

 

The string with the two-ton draw weight behind it sent the magical missile forward at a speed that defied the eye. Shin saw it blast through the building across the street, saw the building behind it shake as the arrow continued through it, saw the building behind _that_ do the same… and then Seiji was there, jumping high into the air and swinging his glowing green sword down at something Shin could not see. The words were too faint to make out, but the light of the sure-kill was unmistakable. The world shook for the uncounted time that day, lightning flashed, something flew up towards the palace, and Seiji alighted on a rooftop with a satisfied swing to his gait.

 

“And that’s it for Anubis,” Touma said smugly.

 

Seiji bounded over to them quickly, ignoring Shin entirely and immediately heading to Touma. His hands were glowing green even before they made contact with the wound.

 

“Please tell me you didn’t walk on this,” Seiji murmured.

 

“Only a little,” Touma sighed. He sounded relieved and it was not hard to guess why. Shin remembered the wonderful feeling of _Korin_ fixing him and taking away all the pain. He had only had to deal with his injuries for less than a minute before being healed of them. How long had Touma had to grit his teeth against Naaza’s venom and the wound itself? Definitely too long.

 

Seiji pulled away a few moments later and Shin could see whole, if blood covered, flesh in the metal gap. The armor itself would mend over time. They all had some strange regenerative property that allowed for growth of new metal to replace anything that a fight cost them.

 

“ _Ah_. So much better,” Touma said happily. He stretched his leg out and gave it a shake. When he set it down onto the roof again, he suddenly smiled. “Oh, here comes Shu.”

 

Sure enough, the man in orange armor bounded up to join them a few seconds later. There was, Shin was surprised to see, a smear of blood along his _naginata_ ’s blade. When Shu saw him looking at it, the large man grinned. “Anubis. I got the little shit right in his good arm. Softened him up for Seiji here.”

 

Seiji snorts. “Keep dreaming. I’d have beaten him just fine even without you.”

 

Shu smiled. “Whatever you need to tell yourself. So, we just took care of Anubis, Seiji says he sliced up Rajura pretty good, and I haven’t seen Naaza anywhere. Has anyone…?”

 

“Um, Kamui-san and I actually took care of him a while ago,” Shin admitted.

 

There was a long moment of silence before Shu scratched his helmet, looking honestly perplexed. “Huh. Was not expecting that. Is the little Kaos-wannabe okay?”

 

Shin frowned. “He _is not_ a ‘Kaos-wannabe.’ He saved me and he helped me defeat the Warlord of Venom. …And yes, he’s okay. Kind of banged up, though, Seiji-san should probably take a look at him.”

 

“Sorry kid, didn’t mean to insult him,” Shu said humbly. “If he helped you fight Naaza, he’s gotta be worth something.”

 

“Is anyone else besides Touma injured?” Seiji asked. When there was a chorus of ‘no’, he frowned and asked, “Is anyone bleeding or _bruised_?” to which Shin was forced to pull back his faceguards to show the scratches Anubis had given him. After healing him (and forcing Shu to stand still for an examination. “Why did you even ask?!” “Because I keep holding out some faint hope that you people will one day understand that _I can heal you idiots if you would just let me_.”), the warrior of _Korin_ crossed his arms and looked over towards the one remaining fight. “Then we should head over to Ryo. Shuten’s the last one and the sooner this is over, the sooner we can head up to the palace.”

 

“Oh, Shuten’s always fun,” Touma muttered. “Shin-kun, stay near me for this. You’ve fought enough today.”

 

“Yeah, he’s got the right idea,” Shu said. “You look like one good breeze would knock you over.”

 

Shu went first, jumping down to the street and taking off running. Seiji was right behind him, the _no-dachi_ carried on his shoulders to make it less awkward. Shin was about to follow them when Touma laid a hand on his shoulder. “No,” Touma said. “We’re keeping to the high road.”

 

“But if Arago sees us, won’t he – “

 

“Arago can see us pretty much whenever he wants. When I told you not to make yourself a target, I was mostly thinking about the warlords and the _youja_. Besides, I think he’s more focused on his last warlord right now,” Touma explained. “If Shuten dies, we can take his armor and try to purify it. He would not risk that happening just to spit some lightning at us.”

 

“Ah. Okay,” Shin said. Personally, he thought the logic was a bit weak, but Touma knew what he was doing, surely. They began running over the rooftops, keeping pace with Seiji and Shu below.

 

* * *

 

 

After a good deal of cursing, limping and sifting through a poorly designed store layout, Kamui had finally found a decent first aid kit and was doing his best to patch his many injuries up. By some small miracle (or more likely, by virtue of the _shakujo_ ) he did not seem to have any crippling or immediately life threatening injuries. His whole body was one massive bruise, dotted with scrapes on every other inch. Turning or twisting at more than a snail’s pace did something unpleasant to his back and his migraine was slowly returning as whatever magic Shin’s _Suiko_ armor had worked to relieve his pain wore off.

 

 _‘Still, I just went against a damn **demon-armored warlord** and lived to brag about it,’_ Kamui mused as he wrapped bandages around his left wrist. _‘If this is the worst thing that happens to me during this whole mess, I’ll call myself the luckiest man alive. Almost kidnapped by a demon, chased through an empty city by a smaller demon, forced to fight said smaller demon out of necessity, chased by a horde of smaller demons through a pitch black subway tunnel on a tiger, almost killed by a kid with way too much firepower because he didn’t think about friendly fire, helped said kid fight a crazy person who could have broken me over his knee like a stick, used up most of my talismans knocking him down, and then left behind in the same empty city to patch myself up from all of the previous. **Holy shit** , this has been a day.’_

 

The _shakujo_ was leaning within immediate grabbing distance against the checkout counter Kamui was huddling beneath. He had dropped it inside the store after Naaza had sent him flying and even before medical treatment, his first thought had been to get it back. The feeling of desperate possession that had taken hold of Kamui in the subway station had only grown after he did an inventory check of his pockets and found a dismal three talismans remaining in his arsenal. As soon as those were gone (and he did not doubt that something would try to kill him again soon enough), the _shakujo_ would be his only remaining tool.

 

That thought spurred on his already hasty first aid. He needed to get back to the Samurai Troopers, the only ones he had met within the city who had the power to kill the monsters he had seen and did not seem to mind keeping him safe in the bargain. Shin had told him to wait, but every second he remained in the pharmacy was one second he was mostly defenseless. With the memory of being punted across a street like a football still fresh in his mind, the notion did not fill him with glee.

 

 _‘Get going quick and find those guys,’_ Kamui told himself. _‘You probably won’t last a night otherwise.’_

 

He slapped a bit of medical tape over the end of the last bandage and shut the lid of the first aid kit. His backpack was heaved onto his shoulders. The _shakujo_ was scooped up in his good right hand. He had left the hat in the street, figuring it was no longer necessary. On the off chance the sun did start shining again, he was going to want to feel it on his face.

 

His body aching, his mind frazzled and his spirit in tatters, Kami set off through the streets of Shinjuku again.

 

* * *

 

 

Naaza had been the most terrifying sight Shin had seen in his fifteen years of life. Even if nothing else happened and the rest of the war ended with rainbows and puppies, he was going have nightmares about that man and his poison for the rest of his life. After defeating Naaza, that remained true. The fear had been mastered, but it still remained. Naaza was something out of a horrible dream, something Shin had never expected or wanted to see in the real world.

 

Shuten Douji was not as bad, but that was only because Shin was watching him from a vantage point several hundred yards away.

 

With Touma next to him.

 

And Shuten had not noticed them yet.

 

“He’s the leader for a reason,” Touma said softly. Below them, Shu and Seiji charged into the battle with war cries. Ryo moved to accommodate them automatically. Shin did not think he even thought about it.

 

“They were the four fiercest warriors in their families, back in an age where everyone was fighting everyone and no one was safe.”

 

(The chain lashed out like a meteor, wrapping around Shu’s _naginata_ and then hauling against it. Shu planted his feet, trying to pull back with his own weight, but it was not enough. He went flying.)

 

“We still aren’t sure if Arago came to them first or if they found a way to contact him. Either way, he promised them power, his own and that of the armor, if they would serve him. It had to be humans, you see. After splitting Arago’s armor apart, Kaos tweaked the nine new armors to let mortals wear them safely, but any monster besides Arago who tries it is going to get fried.”

 

(Shu careened through the air, first heading for the razor sharp scythe, but then shifting with a swing of the chain to smash into Ryo when he moved to intercept. Red and orange fell together as the chain seemingly untangled itself to return to its owner as he readied for Seiji’s charge.)

 

“So, he had four of the armors back just like that. He could have just killed them then and taken back what they had brought, but he didn’t. We still aren’t sure why. Instead, he kept his word and made them his most favored soldiers, the ones he sent to do all his fighting in the _Youjakai_. Losing the battle with Kaos had cost him a lot of face and power, and his kingdom there had fragmented after the fight. It took him a long time to get his own house in order. That’s part of the reason it took him a thousand years to launch this invasion.”

 

(The sword of light swung down in a bright arc that was blocked with a chain held between two blue armored hands. A massive booted foot lashed up and slammed into Seiji’s chest, knocking him back. The distance gained let the man release the scythe. It flew through the air towards Seiji’s face and only a desperate twist of the _no-dachi_ kept it away. The weighted end of the chain was not seen until it was too late, smashing into Seiji’s knee and sending him to the pavement.)

 

Touma drew his bow from his back and unlocked it. The golden curve sprang out from the twisted shape it assumed whenever Touma stored it on his back.

 

“So for four hundred years, that was what they did: killed his enemies, regained his territory and brought fear, destruction and death to the _Youjakai_ in his name. Four hundred years and nobody ever beat even one of them. Four hundred years- “

 

(Seiji rolled away when the heavy weight came crashing down where his head had been. The chain rattled and flailed, sending the weight up and down, up and down, over and over as he frantically tried to regain his feet. Then Ryo was there, using one sword to flick away the weight. _Korin_ burned with green light as Seiji tried to heal his injury. Ryo stepped closer to the warlord.)

 

Touma drew an arrow and set it against the bow.

 

“- and in all that time, so far as we can tell, this guy was his unquestioned favorite. The most brutal, the most loyal; his top attack dog.”

 

Pulled back the string.

 

(Twin swords danced beautifully, but the scythe and chain always blocked their path. Ryo advanced without pause, pushing back, trying to get beyond the _kusari-gama_ , but always foiled. The mouth beneath the blood-red faceguard smirked. Shu charged from behind, the blade of his weapon swinging.)

 

“The _Oni_ _Masho_ of Cruelty.”

 

Took aim.

 

(The warlord jumped up high, the weighted end of his chain spinning in a tight circle. There was the static feeling of power and a red light began to shine from the chain.)

 

“Kid, he _earned_ that name, let me tell you.”

 

Released.

 

The golden arrow flew in a bright ray towards the rising figure. It hummed with speed, piercing through the air with the force of an avalanche behind it. And Shuten –

 

( _‘What?!’_ Shin thought, unable to believe it.)

 

\- sliced it in half with his scythe, sending twin flashes of golden light veering to either side of his head. The bisected arrow pieces slammed into the road behind him, sending explosions up and filling the air with noise. Even with all that, Shin could still hear the words.

 

_“Quake with fear!!!”_

 

The glowing red chain was hurled down into the pavement, shattering it and cratering the ground beneath. Then it kept going, tunneling deeper into the earth, impossibly deeper, the chain extending more and more even when it should have long ago stopped. The ground began to shake and split.

 

“Shin-kun, move!”

 

Touma was jumping backwards before he had even finished speaking and Shin was not far behind him. Red light was bursting out of the cracks in the ground in beams. They impacted the buildings and then flickered out, revealing new chains beneath the glow. Some did not travel in a straight line, instead curving in great arcs to slam down to the ground. Some even seemed to move in midair, swinging to catch the fleeing Seiji, Shu and Ryo. When the last of the lights died, all three of the ground fighters were strung up in black chains and dangling dozens of feet above the street.

 

“Change of plans,” Touma was saying when they came to a stop on another rooftop. The place they had been standing was riddled with chains. He pulled out another arrow and drew it back on the string. “You need to keep him busy for a minute while I shoot them down from the chains.”

 

 _‘This, after you just spent a minute telling me what a badass he is?’_ Shin thought wildly. But Touma’s bow could reach the chains faster than he and his trident could.

 

Mentally bracing himself for the pain that was surely coming, Shin raised his trident and charged.

 

* * *

 

 

Kamui kept walking, despite the growing pain in his back.

 

 _‘I’m getting closer to them, I can feel it,’_ Kamui thought.

 

The _shakujo_ was chiming merrily with each step, like it was trying to cheer him up. In spite of himself and the surroundings, the sound made Kamui smile.

 

_‘Ah, I suppose things aren’t all bad. I’m still alive, Mia and Jun got away safely, and the Samurai Troopers have this whole invasion thing pretty much handled. Everything is going as well as can be!’_

 

* * *

 

 

Shuten’s booted foot pressed down harder onto Shin’s face, crushing his head against the pavement. His helmet had been knocked off in the first strike.

 

“What, _exactly_ , were you trying to accomplish?” Shuten asked mockingly.

 

If Shu were in Shin’s position, he would probably say something like, “Something productive.” Shu was not in Shin’s position. Shu was still hanging off of the chains that crisscrossed the street like a net. Shin was not as smart mouthed as Shu and so, lacking any other ideas, just kept his mouth shut.

 

Shuten laughed and added more weight. Shin could _feel_ his skull bending.

 

“Oi, _Rekka_! Watch me crush this brat’s head – huh?!”

 

There was the sound of breaking metal.

 

Ryo, newly freed from the chains, was charging Shuten with murder in his eyes. The warlord reared back to avoid the swing of the swords, inadvertently freeing Shin. The youngest Trooper scrambled to his feet as Ryo charged passed him, still attacking. Behind Shin, Seiji and Shu hit the ground with only slightly more grace than their leader.

 

“You okay, kid?” Shu asked roughly.

 

Shin, who was certainly not okay, nodded.

 

“Right then, let’s finish this,” Shu said briskly. “I want this day over with.” He began running, chasing after Ryo and Shuten as they raced through the street.

 

“Come here,” Seiji sighed, his hands already glowing green. Shin gratefully stepped closer to the man and tried not to moan in bliss as the green power mended the injuries. Then Seiji was going as well, the _no-dachi_ held in a ready position as he ran.

 

Touma came up behind Shin, his bow in his right hand. “Sorry that took so long. I had to wait until he was focused on you or he could have hit the others as they fell.”

 

“It’s fine, Seiji-san fixed me up,” Shin said tiredly. “Let’s just go. He’s the last one.”

 

_“Quake with-“_

 

“Oh _no!”_ Touma yelled. Horrified, Shin turned.

 

_“ - fear!!!”_

 

But the chains never came.

 

Ryo had _charged beneath the weight!_ He was holding his swords up and slashing madly, then, impossibly, sending the chains back to Shuten! The red light coiled around his arms and sent the warlord crashing to the ground, tied with his own chain. Shu whooped and charged forward. Shuten kicked hard enough to dent the pavement and jumped away, trying to break loose.

 

“Hah! Leave it to Ryo to knock Shuten on his ass,” Touma laughed.

 

The tension Shin had been feeling faded.

 

 _‘We can do this,_ ’ he thought.

 

(A pale glow began to brighten his armor from within.)

 

“Let’s finish this,” Shin said, feeling oddly jubilant. The end was in sight!

 

Touma smiled. “Starting to enjoy yourself? Shu’ll be proud.” And then Touma was striding forward, an arrow readying itself in his hands.

 

(Shu struck faster and faster, as a dull orange glow began to emit from him.)

 

“Shuten! Your end comes today!” Ryo yelled and leapt in to join Shu, his two swords joining the dance of the _naginata_ without pause.

 

(Red light began to shine from _Rekka_.)

 

Shuten broke the chains, rending them apart with sheer brute strength and a squeal of tortured metal. Snarling angrily, he brought the scythe down on Ryo’s swords and turned away the _naginata_ blade with the spikes on his gauntlet… and took the cut from Seiji’s _no-dachi_ across his chest as both of his arms were busy.

 

(The green light of _Korin_ gave Shuten’s bloody faceguards an otherworldly tinge, but Seiji paid it no mind.)

 

“We’ll be going after your master next,” Seiji informed him calmly, as the warlord fell to his knees.

 

( _Tenku_ was as dark and deep as the night sky, even when lit up.)

 

The golden bow raised with the arrow.

 

“Bye,” Touma said jauntily.

 

Shin recalled that moment as the first one where he had felt truly optimistic about the war. The last warlord was down thanks to their combined efforts and no one had died to do it. Their armors were synched – _fully_ synched, and Shin could feel all of his comrades like they were part of him for the first time. Ryo, burning like a star. Seiji, crackling with power. Shu, heavy and unstoppable. Touma, omnipresent and yet unremarkable.

 

It felt like victory.

 

And then the world was rent into pieces.

 

 _Youjakai_ power surged and Shin’s first thought was that Arago was going to snatch back his general and his armor before he could lose either of them. And that did happen, Shuten enveloped in a sphere of painfully bright yellow light, but Shin’s eyes had taken so much abuse over the last few hours that he was almost used to it. He saw the outline of the warlord raise his hands to the sky, heard something about him still being able to fight, and then Shuten Douji was gone.

 

But the power was still there.

 

Lightning crashed down again and again, gale force winds rising to tear at Shin’s trident and face. Thunder – or something worse – roared in the sky.

 

“ _He’s trying to draw us up there_!” Ryo shouted. Shin could just barely see him through the cyclone of dust that the wind was forming. “ _Fight the pull!_ ”

 

 _‘Fight the pull?’_ Shin thought. _‘How?!’_

 

Except that was when he _felt it_ , a horrible cloak of vile energy falling over him like a filthy, vermin-ridden blanket. The reaction was immediate and instinctive, _Suiko_ ’s glow snapping into form as a spherical bubble around him. It was the same thing Touma had coaxed out of him when he had taken him up into space once, but this time he had not needed help to form it. The elation lasted for all of one second until he felt his feet leaving the ground.

 

 _‘No no no no no_!’ Shin chanted internally. It was not teleportation hauling him up, just the wind, but he was being moved all the same. Being tossed onto Arago’s doorstop by a tornado would not have a different effect than being teleported onto his doorstep. Actually, no, it might hurt a lot more.

 

“Touma-san!” Shin knew he yelled, but the wind stole the words from his mouth and flung them into the storm. Had Touma even heard him? Even if not, he could feel Shin surely. He could feel all of them, could use _Tenku_ to fly to them, bring them back to the grou - _why the hell was Shu being thrown in front of Shin’s vision like a glowing slingshot round?!_

 

There was nothing to push against, nothing to help him move out of the way, and so all Shin could do was raise his arms in a blocking maneuver when Shu slammed into him with the speed and force of a freight train. He thought he felt Shu try to grab him, definitely heard him say, “Sorry!” and then he was gone again, taken by the wind.

 

And the tornado just kept _growing_ , lifting him higher and higher, and the whole time he kept thinking, _‘I won’t go, no, you can’t make me’_ and digging deeper into _Suiko_ for the power to keep the bubble alive.

 

And….

 

Then….

 

(Five identical thoughts. _You are not getting the armor from us._ Spread across five-who-were-one. Unanimous. Defiant.)

 

**_ HATE!!! _ **

 

A whip of malice, lashing against Shin’s mind. All the hatred in all the world could not compare. A feeling of vast, incomprehensible power that was groping for them, that _wanted_ them, and was hair-pullingly, teeth-gnashingly, screamingly furious at being denied. There was anger, there was spite, and it all gathered into one massive spell, and Shin somehow knew that this time it would be aiming to kill them and he **_slammed_ ** every ounce of willpower he had into _Suiko_ thinking, _‘keep up the shield,_ **_have to get out of here!!!_** ’

 

And quiet.

 

Stillness.

 

The world paused and Shin could feel his four teammates where they hung in the air around him. Could feel that they were just as tired and desperate and scared as he was. Could feel that they saw him the same way.

 

And then they were all gone.

 

* * *

 

 

Kamui’s good mood evaporated like mist under the morning sun when the mass of evil energy ahead of him changed into a massive storm in the time span of a few seconds. The winds reached him even as far away as he was, forcing him to keep one hand in front of his eyes to ward off the dust and broken glass that was being kicked up from the wreckage of the city.

 

 _‘What the hell is that?!’_ Kamui wondered.

 

It felt almost as bad as the abduct-all-of-Shinjuku spell a few hours back. The only improvement was that it did not seem to be aiming at him this time.

 

Then it stopped.

 

The malevolence died, as did the winds. Dust settled in the streets and Kamui lowered his hand to look at where it had come from. The buildings blocked all sight along the street level, but up above and far ahead, he could see five spheres hanging in the sky, each one shining like a small star. Red, orange, green, pale blue and navy. The colors rang a little bell in his mind.

 

 _‘They can fly?’_ Kamui wondered. _‘Why are they just hanging there – ‘_

The five orbs exploded outward, rocketing over the streets like they had been fired from cannons. One passed overhead of Kamui – _Korin_ from the look of the green glow – and kept going, clearing the limits of Shinjuku in seconds and leaving Tokyo behind only a bit longer. The others vanished just as quickly, already gone out of sight when Kamui twisted his head back around from _Korin_ ’s path to look for them.

 

There were a few moments of disbelieving shock, the denial of what had just happened ruling Kamui’s brain. Then reality and pragmatism settled into place once more and the young man, gritting his teeth against the pain it caused his head, reached out for the feel of the mystic armor that he had become familiar with over the last few hours. His migraine spiked with each passing second, but Kamui kept reaching.

 

Finally he stopped, exhausted and hurting worse than he could have said. They were gone beyond his range, all of them. All he could feel now was the evil of the palace that loomed overhead and corroded everything that lay in its shadow.

 

The Samurai Troopers were gone and the _Youjakai_ remained.

 

“Well, **_fuck_** ,” Kamui spat, and then turned around to keep walking.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of what I have written so far.

**Author's Note:**

> Two chapters more than two years apart. This is my slow fic of slow fics. This started (as a lot of my ideas do) with me re-watching the series on Youtube and wondering about a few things. In no particular order, 
> 
> 1 - Why the hell don't we see any more mystics? I refuse to believe that all of them that ever were or would be were in that village that Arago/Talpa burned to the ground. 
> 
> 2 - So, you've sold yourself to an otherworld spirit for a swankin' suit of armor and immortality, all at the low low cost of your service to him (and your immortal soul). You'll spend the next several centuries helping him violently secure his grip over the Nether realm in preparation for a violent incursion back into the mortal realm. Also, the only members of your species you'll have any contact with from now on will probably try to kill you. What kind of effect does this have on one's mentality? 
> 
> 3 - Was it the armor or the demon that kept the baddies young?
> 
> 4 - If it was the armor, are the guys going to be young forever? Actually, do we know how old they are right now? Paperwork can be forged and Kento/Shu is the only person in the series to have actually introduced his uncle... who honestly looks nothing like him now that I think about it. Hm....


End file.
